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Drinking water infrastructure assessment: the National Research Council of Canada perspective

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Affiliation
  1. National Research Council of Canada. NRC Institute for Research in Construction
FormatText, Article
ConferenceWorld Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009, Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers: 17 May 2009, Kansas City, Missouri
SubjectWater mains
Abstract
The essence of infrastructure asset management and decision-making on its renewal/ rehabilitation is a trade-off between system performance and cost. System performance criteria for water networks include quality, quantity and reliability, i.e., the water should be safe, with acceptable aesthetics, taste and odour; regular and peak demand (including fire flows) should be met with acceptable pressure and with minimal interruptions. Costs comprise capital investment in system design, installation and renewal, operation and maintenance (energy, materials, labour, monitoring, inspection, testing, repair), and indirect and social costs incurred due to failure (property damage, disruption, illness, etc.). Several challenges need to be overcome in the development of an integrated decision framework for water distribution network. Mechanisms affecting system performance criteria are not all well understood. It is difficult to define and measure performance (which inherently comprises several non-commensurate and often conflicting criteria), let alone decide what level of performance is acceptable. It is also difficult to calculate the costs involved to achieve a specific level of performance. Substantial spatial and temporal variability is inherent in even a moderate-size network, and the collection of data on the performance and condition of these buried assets is often difficult and costly.
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In
  • World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009 [Proceedings] (17 May 2009): 1–10.
LanguageEnglish
Peer reviewedNo
NRC numberNRCC 51298
NRC-IRC-20343
NPARC number20374744
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Record identifier1c51d389-9d60-4b3d-870b-62f4ca0c0d25
Record created2012-07-23
Record modified2020-08-11
Date modified: