A Prioritization Model for Rehabilitation of Water Distribution Networks Using GIS

Abstract

Decision-making for the rehabilitation of water distribution networks in the traditional procedure is based on some simple indices such as the number of incidents while several mechanical, hydraulic and qualitative factors are involved in this process. Evidently, making decision on the rehabilitation of water networks seems to be very difficult as the number of factors increases and they interact with each other. The main objective of this research is to prepare, implement and evaluate a conceptual model to prioritize the rehabilitation of pipes based on different scenarios with respect to the combination effects of basic factors in physical, hydraulic and experimental categories. In order to organize the wide range of data to be used in decision-making models, including the plans aimed for pipe replacement, it is necessary to use geographical information systems (GIS). By determining and introducing the factors involved in the rehabilitation of water networks, this research aims to provide an integrated model consisting of conceptual, GIS, hydraulic analysis and the breakage models to prioritize the rehabilitation schemes. By using the data provided from a real network, the advantages of the proposed methodology are evaluated. Based on the obtained results, age factor, among all the other physical parameters, and pressure, among the hydraulic factors, have the greatest influence in outlining the final rehabilitation scenario. The importance of the pipe length has decreased considerably as well. Furthermore, it can be concluded that rehabilitation management of pipe networks can be optimized by using this methodology.

Saving Water and Associated Energy from Distribution Networks by Considering Landscape Factors in Pressure Management and Use of District Metered Areas

“…The effective application of these primary approaches has been investigated for optimal water loss reduction. Such research includes prediction and localization of pipe breaks (Misiunas et al, 2005;Berardi et al, 2008;Park et al, 2008;Aksela et al, 2009;Wu, 2009;Carrión et al, 2010;Islam et al, 2011;Xu et al, 2011a;, optimization of pipe rehabilitation/replacement time (Shamir and Howard, 1979;Park and Loganathan, 2002;Luong and Nagarur, 2005;Dridi et al, 2009;Park et al, 2010;Fan and Huang, 2012;Tabesh and Saber, 2012;Fontana and Morais, 2013;Xu et al, 2013), and management of water pressure (Reis et al 1997;Lambert, 2000;Araujo et al, 2006;Marun-ga et al, 2006;Girard and Stewart, 2007;Nazif et al, 2010;Xu et al, 2014a).…”

Performance Analysis of the Water Distribution System of the City of Messina Through Sustainability Indices

“…A sustainability index (SI) is a term that indicates the performance of a water system with respect to predetermined thresholds of a satisfactory state [3,5]. In order to calculate the performance of the system, the satisfactory state and unsatisfactory state should be distinguished in mathematical terms.…”

“…The SI is a weighted combination of reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability which may change over time and space [3,5]. The following definitions of reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability follow the work of Hashimoto et al [8].…”

“…Piratla and Ariaratnam [2] modelled a sustainable WDS considering trade-offs between hydraulic reliability, life cycle cost and CO2 emissions. Tabesh and Saber [3] proposed a model using hydraulic (i.e. pressure index, pressure performance index, velocity performance index and reliability index), physical, and empirical indices for rehabilitation of water distribution network.…”

Applying GIS to Public Gardens to Visualize and Control Irrigation Systems

“…It is possible for a system to flag valves that are under heavy strain due to either lack of maintenance or other issues within the system. Tabesh and Saber(2012) argued that having a system that looks at each individual asset within a system and measures their risk states valuable to long-term management of systems, especially when dealing with water.…”