Water mains renewal planning framework for small to medium sized water utilities: a life cycle cost analysis approach

Abstract

For the last few decades, concerns have repeatedly been raised about deteriorating water mains in Canada. Small to medium sized water utilities are generally impacted more due to lack of technical and financial resources. This paper presents a user-friendly life cycle cost (LCC) analysis-based decision support tool to help these utility managers to prioritize water mains rehabilitation or replacement (R/R) strategies. The deterioration curves for water mains of different materials and sizes have been developed based on their likelihood of failure. The proposed model is implemented for the water supply network of City of Kelowna (Canada). It compares the costs of various R/R scenarios for each pipe over its life cycle and suggests the most cost-effective decision to the managers to efficiently allocate their limited resources.

Keywords:

• Water mains deterioration
• service life prediction
• life cycle cost analysis
• decision-making

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the data and expert advice received from the City of Kelowna water utility team and various experts during the course of this project.

Notes

1. It is important to highlight that this satisfaction of the consumer based on the water main VI does not obviously exclude his satisfaction related to compliance with regulations and guidelines about the water microbial quality and its aesthetic properties (e.g., colour, taste, and odour).