National Survey on the Trends in Small-Diameter Water Pipeline Failures

Abstract

ABSTRCT A national survey was conducted during the years 2008-09 by the Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology (CIGMAT) at the University of Houston in collaboration with the City of Houston to document the conditions of small diameter (< 500 mm diameter) water pipelines in the United States and Canada. Several major cities and few smaller cities participated in the survey representing a population of 11 million and a water pipeline length of over 28,000 miles with pipe diameters less than 500 mm. The survey results were analyzed with number of local parameters to establish the general trends observed in the water pipeline failures. The results were also compared to the one conducted by the US Mayor in 2007. The survey conducted by US Mayor included over 290 cities represented a population of over 30 million with water pipeline length of over 100,000 miles. By comparing the two surveys, CIGMAT survey represented relatively larger water systems with several cities having total water pipeline length greater than 1000 miles. Based on both surveys, the water pipeline breaks per day varied from 0.002 to 12. From the CIGMAT survey, it was possible to investigate the relationship between water pipeline breaks or breaks per mile with numbers of independent variables and the total pipe length in a city was an important parameter. In this study, few relationships were developed for water pipeline breaks using the CIGMAT survey data and the predictions were compared to the USCM survey data.