Integrated performance assessment model for water distribution networks

The American infrastructure report card in 2013 rated the US water system infrastructure with grade of ‘D’. The Canadian infrastructure report card in 2012 stated that around 15.4% of Canada’s water infrastructure has a condition of fair to very poor. Thus, there is a critical need to develop efficient inspection, maintenance and rehabilitation plans for water distribution networks. However, such plans require an assessment tool to evaluate the performance and condition of water distribution networks. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated performance assessment model for water distribution networks. Two modules were developed to assess the performance of water pipelines and accessories, respectively. A third module was developed to assess the performance of water segments that includes pipelines and accessories. Moreover, a fourth module was built to assess the performance of each sub-network and the entire network based on the segments’ connection type using a reliability-based approach. To assess the performance of the water distribution network, the critical factors affecting its pipelines and accessories were identified and studied. The fuzzy analytic network process technique was used to obtain the importance weights of the identified factors.     

Investigation of water quality in combined recycled water and stormwater systems

Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) approach is an important strategy for urban water utilities to improve water security and system resilience. This study proposes a novel approach to combine recycled water and stormwater. This novel mixing method of capturing and treating stormwater at various locations along the recycled water pipeline and injecting treated stormwater in to the recycled water pipe line is unknown to have been practiced anywhere in the world. Water quality control of combined water is a vital factor for the safe use, as mixing percentage of stormwater is decided based on availability. A method to determine the water quality before mixing is required. Therefore, this paper investigates the appropriateness of the mass balance method to compute combined water quality and proposes a guideline for water quality of combined water.     

Risk criticality and allocation in privatised water supply projects in Indonesia

Public–private-partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects typically involve a plethora of risks. Given that many risks which are traditionally borne by the government get transferred to the private sector, careful risk allocation is considered to be the key to successful PPP projects. This paper focuses on the current risk allocation practice within Indonesia’s water supply projects. The paper captures, presents and discusses the perceptions of both regulators and operators in the context of project risk criticality and allocation. Both parties consider non-availability of raw water is of paramount concern. However, survey findings highlight low-to-moderate levels of intra-group and inter-group agreement regarding the allocation of specific project risk factors. Thus, asserting that the issue of optimal risk allocation remains elusive.     

Development of an urban drainage safety plan concept based on spatial risk assessment

Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) have proved their worth and contributed considerably to risk reduction of hazards being realised in the field of food industry as a stringent and preventive method. The risk management concept of the World Health Organization is based on HACCP, but the principles have been tailored to the context of water supply, which results in the development of the concept of a water safety plan. This concept is pro-active and provides operation and maintenance solutions to protect the critical infrastructure (CI). Urban drainage systems as well as water supply systems are categorised as CI, and thus, safety plans are crucial for protection, but in the field of urban drainage not established yet. Hence, the aims of this paper were to introduce urban drainage safety plans and to develop a concept for their implementation.     

Multi-level integrated planning and greening of public infrastructure in South Africa

The South African government has named the transition towards a greener economy one of its priorities. Meanwhile it has developed a new multilevel integrated planning process, and announced a massive public infrastructure investment plan. The converging point of these three dynamics should be the integration of green infrastructure principles into the different plans as the foundation of the green transition. This paper uses a policy integration analytical framework to assess whether this convergence is in fact taking shape. It analyses the level of integration of green infrastructure principles into the different plans and suggests options to move the green infrastructure agenda forward.     

Infrastructure performance rating models for wastewater treatment plants

Wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) are among the most complex municipal infrastructure systems that serve large populations. Unfortunately, many studies have shown that the WTPs, in the USA and Canada, are facing unprecedented deterioration due to ageing and improper maintenance plans. This situation is aggravated by the lack of adequate funds for upgrading and maintenance. In 2008, Statistics Canada estimated that WTPs exceeded 63% of their useful lives, the highest level among public infrastructure facilities. Similarly, the WTP performance in the USA had a near-failure average grade of D ? . These facts show the urgent need for rehabilitation decision tools to keep these facilities running effectively. This research aims to respond to such a pressing need by developing a condition-rating index (CRI) model for the WTP infrastructure. The CRI is developed using an integrated approach of the analytical hierarchy process with the multi-attribute utility theory. The required data for these models are collected via questionnaires from site visits and interviews with experts in Canada and the USA. The results reveal that physical factors have the highest impact on deterioration of WTP infrastructure and that pumps are the most vulnerable infrastructure unit. The developed CRI workability is proved using data of three WTPs from Canada and the USA, which show robust results.     

Media discourse on ageing water infrastructure

Urban infrastructure in the United States is ageing, but media portrayal of this phenomena has been insufficient. Failures such as water main breaks are a daily occurrence in many cities. In addition, citizens are regularly reminded of the costs through increases in water and sewer rates. To explore media discourse on this issue, a content analysis of print media articles on water main breaks (Breaks), and water and sewer rate increases (Rates) for the period 1999–2012 was conducted. The analysis of approximately 500 randomly drawn articles on each topic found that media coverage of water infrastructure is an episodic affair with little attention to ongoing issues. Rates articles contained more details and a focus on governance, while Breaks articles addressed business concerns and were concentrated in older cities. The article concludes that media stories are not providing sufficient information to serve the needs of democratic governance of urban infrastructure issues.     

德国绿色基础设施规划的背景、架构与实践

从绿色基础设施的研究范式引入,本文对德国绿色基础设施规划的概念、发展历程以及规划内容和目标进行概述,进而剖析其空间规划体系特征,即以法定层面规划为原则框架、国家顶层设计为发展导向、非法定层面规划为主要落实手段、尺度覆盖从联邦到地方的空间规划。在规划实践方面,本文介绍了德国绿色基础设施联邦尺度、区域尺度和城市尺度的优秀规划案例,并从规划内涵、支撑体系、顶层设计、规划尺度、公众参与五个方面分析其特点。借鉴德国规划经验,同时以我国国土空间规划改革为契机,本文提出我国未来绿色基础设施规划体系的发展建议。     

The driest continent and the greediest water company: newspaper reporting of drought in Sydney and London

Analysis of press reports of the onset of drought in Sydney in 2002 and London in 2006 shows different understandings of the relationship between infrastructure provision, individual behaviour and the environment. Drought is both a natural and cultural phenomenon requiring urban water managers to consider social as well as technical considerations in preparing for future droughts.     

An analysis of the costs and quality of infrastructure facilities in informal settlements in Kumasi,Ghana

The literature on urban development generally posits that informal settlements offer low cost housing to the urban poor in developing countries. Using data from four informal settlements in Kumasi, Ghana, this paper analyses the costs and quality of water and sanitation infrastructure delivery in relation to the socio-economic conditions of residents. It finds a paradox where residents of deprived informal settlements pay higher fees for the use of low-quality privately-owned outdoor commercial water and sanitation facilities. The study therefore calls for a re-examination of urban upgrading programmes to focus on approaches that consider the financial implications of projects on beneficiaries.     

Serviceability Assessment of a Municipal Water System Under Spatially Correlated Seismic Intensities

Abstract:   Forecasts of serviceability of distributed civil infrastructure systems under a severe earthquake should consider the impact of spatial correlation of seismic intensities on system function and serviceability. Limited information on seismic wave propagation and local site conditions makes such forecasts difficult, and previous research seldom has addressed the effects of spatially correlated seismic intensities and demands on civil infrastructure system performance. In this article, the serviceability of an infrastructure network system is evaluated with a model that considers spatial correlation in seismic intensity and demand. Simple closed-form upper- and lower-bound approximations to the component failure probabilities, functionality of components within the system that have been damaged by an earthquake, and network serviceability are presented and their usefulness for engineering decision making is evaluated. An assessment of the serviceability of the municipal water distribution system in Shelby County, Tennessee, which is located to the southeast of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, illustrates the approach .     

Planning for Water Capacity Expansion

More responsibilities for planning water resources are being placed on local planners at a time when demand for water services is uncertain and financial conditions are pressing. Planners will need to scrutinize and refine conventional criteria for evaluating proposed expansions in the capacity of water and wastewater systems. They will have to counterbalance traditional engineering approaches to planning, which emphasize economy of scale, by paying more attention to finance rates and demand forecasting. And they will need to consider rehabilitating water and wastewater systems—as both a supplement and an alternative to expanding them—in making decisions about local infrastructure.     

Integrating socio-environmental spatial information to support housing plans

The current challenge of promoting the sustainable provision of social housing for the global population requires an integrated evaluation of the infrastructure and service availability across a territory. Few applications are recognized for supporting social housing plans with spatial information, especially regarding the ability to provide room for new initiatives. The aim of this research is to propose a Social Housing Index (SHI) for integrating and quantifying urban spatial socio-environmental information to support social housing plans. To this end, data about land use and sectoral activities are integrated using a standardizing methodological framework. The SHI supports studies on location alternatives for new housing projects and the availability of infrastructure and services for the implemented housing complexes. The proposed index also harmonizes the development of housing plans by making different demands compatible for supporting urban sustainability.     

Around Madrid: the continuing influence of historical urban development plans on today’s periphery

This paper describes the peripheral development that has occurred in Madrid over the last 16 years (2000–2016), a period split by the economic crash that occurred in 2008. The paper argues that the relationship between economic development and infrastructure corridors witnessed in this peripheral development is intrinsically connected to the nineteenth and twentieth-century plans for urban growth. While these corridors have some similarities to the Strip model for an automobile city discussed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown in their seminal book Learning from Las Vegas, the Madrid peripheries enjoy a long genealogy that complicates any easy link to the Strip, particularly around issues of economic speculation, typology and image-making or imagining, which will be introduced using the work of Michael Neuman and others. The research design adopted examines the treatment of the periphery in a number of historical plans, particularly their attitudes towards infrastructure and economic development, in order to establish connections between those historical plans and the city’s planned and (partially) realized peripheral development today.     

《湖北省城镇体系规划》实施评估研究

首先选择《湖北省城镇体系规划》实施评估方法,相应提出本规划实施评估指标选取原则并构建评估指标体系;然后采用目标达成法,针对本规划的城镇经济社会发展、城镇空间结构、城镇规模结构、城镇职能结构、城镇基础设施5个目标领域分别进行评估,并据此提出评估结论及后续规划修编的合理化建议。     

Moving urban water infrastructure asset management from science into practice

iGPI, the National Initiative for Infrastructure Asset Management is a Portuguese collaborative project led by LNEC (National Civil Engineering Laboratory, Portugal) through which 19 water utilities develop their own infrastructure asset management (IAM) systems and plans in a joint training and capacitation programme. Technical assistance to the participating utilities is ensured by LNEC, IST (Technical University of Lisbon) and Addition, a software development company. The water utilities get collective as well as one-on-one support and specific training. They benefit from networking with the other utilities in a common and simultaneous process, with similar difficulties and challenges, leading to an effective sharing of solutions. The developed products, including training materials, templates and guidelines for developing strategic and tactical IAM plans, are available to the general public. This project has greatly contributed to the establishment of reference methodologies and standards for IAM planning, in a range of utilities of widely diverse size and context, effectively defining an accepted best practice. This paper discusses the project's format and its advantages, and goes on to describe the main outcomes, including selected cases and final products.     

Accounting for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Public Water Supplies

Asset management plans were prepared in 1989 and 1994 by water companies in England and Wales for submission to the Office of Water Services. These plans constituted the financial programming required by water companies to meet specified standards of service, particularly with respect to water quality. Detailed studies have previously established that problems associated with iron from unlined ferrous mains, particularly in soft water areas, is often the main cost 'driver'for water distribution investment. However, many of the so-called unlined iron mains were treated with a coal-tar pitch lining for corrosion protection before installation, and residues of this painted lining can give rise to unsatisfactory levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in drinking water.
The paper describes how desk-study research, followed by the development and application of a modified 'focused downstream series sampling'water-quality modelling technique allowed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to be accounted for in two water company asset management plan submissions. The paper also raises a number of fundamental implications with respect to the occurrence of these carcinogenic compounds in drinking water.     

Urban expansion in Norway ‐ development by plan?

It has been a commonly held assumption that Norwegian municipal land use planning has given few results. Case studies of two Norwegian settlements show, however, that present day urban pattern is a planned development after the introduction of master planning as a planning tool after 1970¹. In the two municipalities, respectively 96 and 98 per cent of urban expansion after 1970 is in accordance with municipal master plans. Important reasons for this unexpected success of planning is that planning had a strong legitimacy base among local politicians. Planning was introduced because of clearly visible and perceptible problems with uncontrolled urban growth such as encroachment on farmland and recreational areas, and pollution of rivers and fjords from untreated sewage. In addition, to build co‐ordinated and predictable was necessary in order to achieve an efficient and economical infrastructure. Both municipalities were active in implementing the plans through acquisition of land and development of infrastructure.     

Guiding principles for infrastructure climate change risk and adaptation studies

As global climate mitigation actions increasingly appear to be unable to curb global emissions, there has been a corresponding increase in climate adaptation planning undertaken by governments and communities. Along with an increasing number of adaptation studies, there has been an increasing complexity of adaptation studies as practitioners attempt to plan the adaptation of whole communities, cities and in some cases nations. These studies are commonly underpinned by increasingly complex climate change vulnerability studies that also attempt to encompass concepts such as resilience and adaptive capacity. Owners and operators of infrastructure assets and networks also need to consider climate change. This need has been met by an increasing number of climate change risk and adaptation studies of major infrastructure. The approaches used for these assessments are commonly derived from assessments of whole communities and policy development studies, and apply terminology that is often inconsistent with established engineering asset management methods and approaches. As a result the uptake of these studies has been less than desirable in many cases. To this end, the work presented here proposes a set of principles for undertaking the assessment of climate changes impacts on assets and infrastructure.     

Corrosion and capacity prediction of marine steel infrastructure under a changing environment

The deterioration of marine steel infrastructure caused by corrosion may be influenced by a changing climate and/or pollution level which may lead to its serviceability and structural failure. However, almost all corrosion research until recently assumed time-invariant environmental conditions. A structural reliability analysis is applied here to simulate steel sheet piles in sea water conditions under a changing environment. Corrosion of marine steel infrastructure is modelled as a spatial time-dependent process including sea water temperature and sea level rise due to global warming and dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration increase caused by pollution. The steel sheet piles are divided vertically into 70 elements to consider the spatial variability of different corrosion zones and sea level rise effects. Two limit states are considered: (i) stress of steel sheet piles reaches their yield stress and (ii) pitting corrosion perforation to provide an alert to repair or maintenance. The results show that ignoring the effects of a changing environment can underestimate structural capacity failure risks, and pollution will have a more significant effect on capacity of steel sheet piles than sea water temperature and sea level rise caused by global warming.