A selection framework for infrastructure condition monitoring technologies in water and wastewater networks

The global water sector faces significant challenges to maintain secure and reliable service provision in the context of ageing infrastructure, urban growth, and with investment capacity constrained by user affordability. As part of an on-going effort to meet these challenges, research has been undertaken to facilitate the diffusion of technological innovations within the concept of “Intelligent Networks”. This diffusion has been facilitated by the formation of a consortium of water utilities in Victoria, Australia. The consortium has engaged with Intelligent Network concepts due to a need to prolong network asset life where possible; defer or remove the need for asset augmentation, reduce the operational expenditure (by reducing asset failures and incident response times), and minimise the impact of asset failures on communities and the environment. The literature on innovation diffusion indicates that the uptake of new technologies is influenced by subjective perceptions. As such, key research challenges were to understand where technologies could be used to improve asset management, identify potential condition monitoring techniques, elicit best available knowledge with respect these technologies and provide advice on where their application was likely to reflect a rational economic decision. To ensure a targeted review, “failure pathway” diagrams were first constructed to identify and relate influences controlling asset deterioration and failure. Elements of failure pathways were used to identify parameters that, by effective monitoring, could provide an early indication of asset distress and the opportunity to intervene and avoid reactive maintenance costs. Alternatively, parameters were also identified that could inform the deferral of capital expenditure on asset replacement and augmentation. The failure pathway provided the basis for the identification of 19 candidate monitoring technologies which were subsequently reviewed. Each technology identified was assessed against capital and on-going maintenance costs and the perceived benefit of implementation. Benefits were expressed in terms of how the new information acquired would enhance the asset owner’s ability to defer asset augmentation/renewals and avoid reactive maintenance costs/externalities. The project provided a prioritised set of monitoring technologies that are currently progressing towards pilot trials in the field.