Evaluation Of Infrastructure Asset Management Tools For Water Distribution Networks In The Context Of Water Utilities Clara Mara Corzo Delgado by Clara María Corzo Delgado instant download after payment.

Water distribution, as a public service, continually faces challenges. The assets that make up the
water infrastructure system age and deteriorate; therefore, water utilities must consider
investments to maintain them in good condition to meet performance indicators and the growing
demand associated with the population increase. These investments should seek to make efficient
use of available financial resources.
This research carries out a reference framework for asset management in the context of water
utilities. It presents an evaluation of a sample of Colombian companies to determine their current
status against the key components of asset management. A summary of deterministic deterioration
models available is presented, leading to selecting two models for their application in Manizales'
water distribution network (Colombia). The asbestos-cement, polyvinylchloride, and polyethylene
pipes are analysed by characterizing the failure rate's behaviour and applying the models proposed
by Kettler and Goulter (1985) and Shamir and Howard (1979) to identify asset management tactics
that can be implemented in the company. The models were evaluated using the MAPE (Mean
Absolute Percentage Error), with slightly better results for the first one. However, the conclusion
was that these models are not representative of the failure rate's behaviour in the analysed pipes.
The research found that the failure rates of elements with a diameter equal to or greater than 8"
are low, while the highest values corresponded to diameters of 2" and less. Around 61% of the
failures were associated with joints between elements, not with the pipes themselves, showing that
failures are the most vulnerable elements in the water network.
Keywords: failure rate, infrastructure asset management, pipe failure analysis, tactical planning,
water distribution networks.