He directs the Board's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project.

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Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.

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The objectives of this study were to apply clustering analysis to identify abnormally high concentrations of water main failures (i.e., hot spots) for three selected service areas in California; perform multivariate linear regression for both the three hot spots and all main failures, taking into account pipe materials, diameter, hydraulic pressure, season, soil, length, air temperature, and water content; and compare major differences between the two regression results. Each case study site demonstrated unique failure mechanisms and spatial patterns. Selected pipe materials, season, diameter, and soil type demonstrated statistically significant effects on pipe longevity, accompanied by distinct characteristics for hot spots. This project lays the foundation for a standardized platform and approach to sustainable life cycle assessments for individual water infrastructure elements.

Physical, technical, managerial, and environmental factors are all known to influence non-revenue water (NRW) volume, so a better understanding of these factors is important if we are to intervene in water loss problems more effectively. This study therefore identified determinants of NRW for a water utility in California by applying fixed effects panel regression analysis incorporating uncertainty. Network length, connection density, and net operating revenue per cubic meter of water sold were found to be negatively correlated with NRW while a positive relationship between number of leaks and NRW was identified. These findings will inform the water utility's management team/decision-makers regarding the specific impacts of NRW's critical factors and guide them to focus on these factors to further reduce NRW as well as set long-term benchmarks.

A research partnership between the California Water Service Co. and San Jose State University has developed critical projects to help address gaps in the knowledge base within the drinking water industry and research communities.

Groundwater wells are critical drinking water infrastructure elements that widely support basic system supply needs while also providing supply reliability, better water quality (in some cases), and comparatively lower operational costs. Well rehabilitation and replacement are thus an area where water utilities could benefit from rational decision support frameworks and quantitative tools that enable them to better navigate the complex trade-off relationship(s) that exist among a variety of environmental quality, public health, financial, regulatory, organizational, and technological dimensions. Consistent with these considerations, a business risk-based prioritization tool was developed for this study that augments/extends California Water Service (Cal Water)'s well rehabilitation and the replacement decision-making process. For this derivation, a business risk exposure methodology is combined with an analytical hierarchy process (AHP), with the AHP being utilized to determine the weights of the factors involved in the likelihood of failure and the consequence of failure calculation. It is expected that the new tool will assist in optimizing inspection and action plans and identify the wells requiring attention and/or additional work for water utilities.