Risk-based asset management for small to medium-sized water utilities

这项研究的动机源于认识到安全可靠的供水对加拿大人的高质量生活和繁荣至关重要。供水系统对于确保城市环境中的健康、安全、经济保障和整体生活质量至关重要。为了有效地管理水利基础设施，大型市政当局努力遵循资产管理模式，这有助于优化资本价值以及维护，更新和更换投资规划。然而，由于缺乏资金和技术专长，中小型公用事业公司的资产管理工作并没有得到很好的实施。该项目旨在为占供水系统60-80%的水管开发一种资产管理工具。建议的工具将通过制定基于风险的资产管理框架，解决中小型水务公司配水系统的有效和高效管理问题。本研究将集中于三个相互依存的主题，即：

Motivation for the research stems from the recognition of the fact that safe and secure water supplies are vital for the high quality of life and prosperity of Canadians. Water distribution systems are essential for ensuring health, safety, economic security and overall quality of life in an urban environment. To efficiently manage water infrastructure, large-sized municipalities diligently follow asset management paradigm, which helps to optimize the value of capital as well as maintenance, renewal and replacement investment planning. However, due to lack of financial resources and technical expertise, the asset management has not been properly implemented in small to medium-sized utilities. This project is aimed at developing an asset management tool for water mains that accounts to 60-80% of the water distribution system. Proposed tool will address effective and efficient management of water distribution system for small to medium-sized water utilities by developing a risk-based asset management framework. This research will focus on three interdependent themes, namely, (1) Performance and condition assessment, (2) Project level decision-making, and (3) Network level decision-making (asset accounting). Two medium-sized water utilities, namely, Glenmore-Ellison Improvement District and District of West Kelowna, will be partner in this research and be used as a test bed for the application of proposed asset management tool. This research will help Canada to lead R&D in this domain. This will train many HQPs that will be able to disseminate the knowledge in a near future.