A Narrative of Urban Underground Pipeline System Disasters in China in 2021: Spatial and Temporal Distribution, Causal Analysis, and Response Strategies

Abstract

In recent years, there have been frequent disasters and accidents in the underground pipeline system of Chinese cities, posing a continuous threat to the safety of life and property of the public and the order of urban operations. This article uses statistical data on the spatiotemporal distribution of major underground pipeline disasters in various provinces of China in 2021. By using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis, a causal analysis model for urban underground pipeline accidents is constructed, and the correlation between urban underground pipeline accident rate and economic and social indicators is analyzed. From the analysis, it has been found that the correlation coefficients of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the pipeline density in the built-up area, and the urban pipeline accident rate reach −0.4019 and −0.4275, respectively, showing a negative correlation. Further, the regression analysis results show that the underground pipeline accident rate shows a decreasing trend as the per capita GDP and the density of pipelines in the built-up areas increase. Among them, the results of the power function fitting model show that the GDP per capita accounts for 48.10% of the urban underground pipeline accidents, whereas the pipeline density of the built-up area accounts for 58.27% of these accidents. The construction of underground pipeline regulations is influential in reducing underground pipeline disaster accidents. In this study, the role and effectiveness of the factors, such as the construction of professional regulations in maintaining the safe operation of urban underground pipelines, has been discussed, and suggestions and methods to improve the problems that need to be solved, such as the construction of a municipal supporting emergency management system in the safe operation of underground pipelines in the future, have been proposed.

Tripartite Social Roles of Urban Underground Pipeline Informatization in China

“…Currently, cities at or above the county level in China have conducted UUP surveys and established UUP informatization systems, which play a significant role in urban safety, management, and maintenance of municipal facilities [10,11]. However, the current UUP informatization management faces numerous challenges [12], including incomplete specialized management agencies for underground pipelines, with no dedicated departments at the national or provincial levels [13]; limited regulatory constraints on pipeline construction, with regulations not specifically focused on UUP informatization management [14]; inconsistent informatization standards, with new detection technology standards for underground pipelines being chaotic or outdated [15]; lack of funding delaying UUP informatization efforts [16]; increasing demand for urban underground pipeline health assessment as a new norm, yet lagging technologies in new UUP materials, informatization collection, and management [17]; and barriers to informatization sharing in UUP construction, impacting the value of data utilization [18].…”