Systematic approach for asset management of urban water pipeline infrastructure systems

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a systemic approach to evaluate physical condition of water pipeline infrastructure with limited condition assessment data that can help asset managers prioritize capital investments in maintenance projects for urban water pipeline systems. Design/methodology/approach Spatial pattern analyses are conducted in this research to find the spatial pattern of the service life of pipelines. Based on the spatial relationship, the critical areas where groups of pipelines with short service life are likely to be found were located using spatial statistical analyses. A visualized platform was also developed and used to validate the implementation of the proposed approach with the case study of urban water pipeline infrastructure in a city in the Midwest region of the USA. Findings The results of the spatial pattern analyses reveal that water pipelines are spatially clustered based on their service life. Further, it was found that on average the pipelines in the center of a city have longer service life while the average expected service life of the pipelines in the marginal areas is shorter. The interpolation method produced raster data with continuous information about the service years of pipelines that are useful for asset maintenance planning. Originality/value With the limited data, the proposed approach enables identification of the critical area of water pipelines with the likelihood of shorter service life. This result can be used as a priority rule for a rehabilitation plan and contributes to shifting from a responsive to a preventive approach in underground asset management.