Drinking Water Distribution System Management Incorporating Health and Asset Risk

本研究项目的目的是通过概率估计管道破裂造成的健康风险，为国家-S健康做出根本性贡献。美国的饮用水分配系统可能会以多种不同的方式受到损害，管道破裂及其相关的维修和更新活动是饮用水分配系统污染的最重要原因之一。尽管通过管道破裂易受污染物入侵，但人们对饮用水分配系统管道破裂带来的健康风险的程度的了解和记录有限。此外，配电系统资产管理没有将与管道破裂相关的健康风险纳入规划过程。对与管道破裂相关的健康风险进行准确、概率的估计将使配电系统能够以更好地保护公众健康的方式进行维护。这将是美国首次对与管道破裂相关的健康风险进行严格的、概率的评估。此外，该项目还将大幅提高管道破裂风险模型的预测准确性。这两项进展--健康风险评估和改进的资产风险评估--将结合在一起，形成一个基于风险的综合供水系统资产管理框架。目前，运营商和公用事业经理将公共卫生保护(例如，环境合规)和资产管理视为两个独立且往往存在分歧的目标。这项研究将使这些潜在的不同目标能够更全面地整合到一个基于系统的风险和决策模型中。本研究也将为饮用水管网的实时管理做出基础性的贡献。研究进展将基于与一家大型自来水公司的密切合作，确保所开发的方法可以在实践中使用。

The objective of this research project is to make a fundamental contribution to the nation?s health by probabilistically estimating health risks due to pipe breaks. U.S. drinking water distribution systems may be compromised in a number of different ways, and pipe breaks and their associated repair and renewal activities are among the most important causes of drinking water distribution system contamination. Despite the vulnerability to contaminant intrusion through pipe breaks, there is limited understanding and documentation of the magnitude of health risks from drinking water distribution system pipe breaks. Furthermore, distribution system asset management does not include the health risks associated with pipe breaks into the planning process. Having accurate, probabilistic estimates of the health risks associated with pipe breaks would allow distribution systems to be maintained in a way more protective of public health. This will be the first rigorous, probabilistic estimate of the health risk associated with pipe breaks in the U.S. In addition, this project will lead to substantial improvements in the predictive accuracy of pipe break risk models. These two advances - health risk assessment and improved asset risk assessment - will be combined to yield an integrated, risk-based water distribution system asset management framework.Currently, operators and utility managers consider public health protection (e.g., environmental compliance) and asset management as two separate and often divergent goals. This research will enable more comprehensive integration of these potentially divergent goals into a systems-based risk and decision model. This research will also make fundamental contributions to real-time drinking water distribution systems management. The research advances will be based on a close working collaboration with a large water utility, ensuring that the methods developed can be used in practice.