Full Description

The United Kingdom water industry has undergone significant change in the last 20 years, largely as aresult of privatization of the English and Welsh Water Authorities in 1989 and the industry regulation that followed throughout the United Kingdom. This has resulted in thecurrent strict requirement to maintain and, where necessary, improve service tocustomers. For potable water supply this has included the elimination of unacceptablewater quality, including the control of aesthetic parameters, and the management ofleakage and interruptions to supply to acceptable standards. Levels of service are linkeddirectly to asset condition and associated performance. Buried assets are intrinsicallydifficult to assess directly, so condition and performance are often examined throughsurrogate parameters (e.g. burst history, water samples) or spot/local testing ofopportunistic and planned samples with extrapolation to the whole asset. A variety ofassessment techniques has been developed to cover the range of materials in use aspotable water networks. Alongside this, a number of sophisticated strategic models havebeen developed within the industry for investment planning purposes. These models usevarious condition data as input and incorporate risk-based analysis to assist in thedevelopment of integrated solutions. Attention to the water main criticality and to thevarious cost drivers applicable to the modern UK water industry ensures a prioritized,cost-efficient approach to asset management.The paper begins with a brief explanation of the impact of privatization and the drivers forimprovement. There is then a detailed presentation of some elements of strategic assetmanagement planning techniques plus information relating to a selection of assessmentmethodologies. A short summary of techniques and approaches used for solution deliveryis also included. Includes 3 references, tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2008 Number of Pages: 43File Size: 1 file , 2.9 MB