Utility Risk Management Methodologies for Buried Assets with Improved Triple Bottom Line Understanding of Pipe Failures
This project will develop an increased understanding of the application of risk management concepts to infrastructure of potable water utilities. This assessment must accurately take into account the capital cost of the infrastructure, the costs and consequences of failure, and the imprecise ability to predict remaining asset lifespan due to lack of complete understanding of deterioration mechanisms and imprecise condition assessment techniques. Also, the ability of the water industry to express possible consequences of failure is relatively limited, lacking rules of thumb, and lacking understanding of basic issues. This project will develop a considerably increased understanding of the consequences of infrastructure failure through case studies. The business case for risk mitigation can be made stronger if the benefits of avoiding a risk of asset failure can be quantified and compared to the cost of the mitigation action. The quantification of the consequence of failure, as proposed in this project, can be used in the business case.
