Water Infrastructure Performance Research Articles

Study of the influence of raw water infrastructure performance on drinking water

Water utilities are assessed on financial, customer service, operational, and HR performance, according to Government Regulation 122/2015. Environmental, operational, and physical factors impact cooling system performance. Local governments and water utilities assess water supply efficiency using distribution networks. In West Nusa Tenggara, researchers explored Lombok and Sumbawa. Water is abundant in Lombok but insufficient in Sumbawa. Despite the continual requirement for drinking water, this study concentrates on these two criteria since regional climates fluctuate. The former has superior local government water supplies, which affect Lombok and Sumbawa citizens’ health. This research outlines a single drinking water system’s two most important performance criteria. Researchers employ fuzzy c-means clustering, statistical regressive analysis, and questionnaire combinations for indeterminate parameters. The survey concluded that a water distribution authority has a good performance value if its intake and distribution network works effectively and the negative balance decreases. PDAM control will be less effective and the body less healthy if one portion fails, especially if fluctuations of water discharge. This research may result from an integrated drinking water collection and distribution performance model. The study found that water treatment plant performance, especially water discharge, increases water usage.

Social distancing, water demand changes, and quality of drinking water during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic changed daily routines for people around the globe due to the adoption of social distancing measures, such as working from home and restricted travel. Changes in daily routines created new water demand patterns, and the spatial redistribution of water demands in urban water distribution systems affected water quality. A range of factors can influence individual decisions to social distance, including demographics, risk perceptions, and prior experience with infectious disease. This research develops an agent-based modeling framework to simulate decisions to social distance, the effect of social distancing on water demands, and effects on the performance of water infrastructure and the quality of delivered drinking water. This framework couples a hydraulic model, a COVID-19 transmission model, and Bayesian belief network (BBN) driven decision-making models within an agent-based modeling framework. The model is applied for a virtual city, Micropolis, to explore the effects of social distancing decisions on water age. Results demonstrate an increase in average water age and changes to the expected flow directions in pipes under scenarios of increasing social distancing. Nodes near industrial areas experience higher degradation of water quality. This research provides a new framework to develop and evaluate water infrastructure management strategies during pandemics.

Assessment of Raw Water Infrastructure Performance for the Performance Index Modeling

This research aimed at the performance assessment of raw water infrastructure. The performance of raw water infrastructure in this case is as the service function of the infrastructure for supplying the raw water. Generally, the benchmark for determining the infrastructure performance is seen from the ability of raw water infrastructure in distributing the raw water discharge according to the demand for the raw water acceptor service. This research is conducted in the Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) Province, one of the island provinces consisting of two big islands and several small islands surrounding them. The two big islands are Lombok and Sumbawa, with their uniqueness in the water use pattern, water availability, rainfall, and the economic matters of water user society. The methodology consists of the assessment of the monetary aspect, service aspect, operational aspect, and human resources aspect. The assessment result will be used as the validation standard in building the performance index modeling. However, the assessment of existing raw water infrastructure performance in NTB based on the PP 122, 2015. The result shows that the monetary aspect is increasing in several PDAM; the service aspect is decreasing; the operational aspect is increasing at the beginning, but by the time, it is decreasing; however, the human resources aspect shows an increasing condition. Keywords : assessment, infrastructure, raw water, monetary aspect, service aspect, operational aspect, human resource aspect. https://doi.org/10.55463/issn.1674-2974.50.3.11

Water Infrastructure Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Investigation of the Drivers and Impact on Economic Growth

There is a strong link between water infrastructure and development outcomes. As such, water infrastructure challenges could have an adverse effect on the economy at large. This study investigates the drivers of water infrastructure performance and analyzes how investment in water infrastructure affects economic growth, focusing on a panel of thirty-one Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. An integrative theoretical framework using panel regressions was developed. The result showed that an increase in water infrastructure performance due to a 1% increase in per-capita income growth and trade openness was 0.2% and 0.03%, respectively, and the constraint on water infrastructure performance due to a 1% increase in population density was 0.76%. The result showed that the impact is mostly driven by the effect of per-capita income growth and population density on lower- and middle-income countries. Our results also revealed that one additional increase in water infrastructure investment leads to a higher impact on economic growth. We further complement our study by investigating the policy interventions that the support water infrastructure outcome effect. We found that investment in water infrastructure along with the provision of credit to the private sector is a strong driver of economic growth; however, access to credit beyond a certain threshold—relative to the level of investment in water infrastructure in these countries—investment in water infrastructure would lead to an adverse negative macroeconomic effect. The policy implications of this study are discussed.

Infrastructure Performance and Irrigation Water Governance in Genadendal, Western Cape, South Africa

Disasters such as the 2015–2018 drought in South Africa usually negatively impact agricultural water, especially in smallholder farming systems. This study assessed the availability of irrigation water, performance of irrigation infrastructure, and water governance systems in Genadendal, Western Cape, with a focus on smallholder farmers. Data for streamflow, dam levels, and rainfall were acquired from water institutions and analysed using Microsoft Excel. The performance of the infrastructure and water governance were assessed based on the perceptions of smallholder farmers and key informants. A questionnaire was administered to eight smallholder farmers, followed by a focus group discussion with fifteen smallholder farmers. Interviews were conducted with eight key informants who worked in water-related institutions. Qualitative data from the interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. The study showed adequate agricultural water resources during the 2015–2018 drought period for the smallholder farmers who relied on water from dams. However, smallholder farmers who relied on the Riviersonderend River experienced severe water shortages during the same period. The findings showed poor performance of irrigation water infrastructure due to inadequate maintenance. Lack of coordination among institutions, insufficient funding, political interference, fragmentation of roles and responsibilities, lack of human resources, and farmers’ lack of participation and commitment in water resource management all contributed to the dysfunctionality of irrigation water governance systems, leading to water insecurity. This study concludes that while agricultural water resources in Genadendal are sufficient, water governance systems need improvement in order to strengthen the water security status for smallholder farmers. This study recommends adequate funding for the operation and maintenance of infrastructure. Furthermore, water institutions need to support smallholder farmers with training skills in agricultural water management and infrastructure maintenance. Further studies are recommended to quantify the amount of water lost due to the poor performance of water infrastructure and to develop effective water governance in Genadendal. In addition, issues relating to crop varieties and changes in cropping intensity during drought periods need to be considered in future studies.

Investigating temporal dynamics of urban densification on the buried water infrastructure performance

Urban densification has dominated the land uses and land covers which may jeopardize the quality of life and sustainable development. Moreover, urban densification process exerts stress on buried water infrastructure (BWI) performance. In this study, the need of predicting the change in urban densification and its subsequent impacts on BWI performance over time has drawn attention to conduct a temporal analysis. A hybrid approach was used to select the significant control performance indicators (CPIs) and conduct a temporal analysis. Eight scenarios were generated using the Canadian Council of the Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index approach to address the change in drinking water quality. The proposed approach was implemented in a municipality of British Columbia, Canada, as a case study. The results showed a 40 % decrease in the BWI performance due to the urban areas have rapidly grown both in population and built-up areas over three decades. Furthermore, an ideal situation was assumed to show that the targeted service level (i.e., 0.5) can be achieved with 3 % to 5 % improvement in every five years of service level. These findings will assist the decision makers to understand the linkage between CPIs to maintain and achieve the required BWI performance.

Determinants of water security in smallholder farming systems in South Africa: a review

Attaining water security is critical for enhancing agricultural production in many countries worldwide. In South Africa, water insecurity is one of the factors affecting agricultural production, especially in the smallholder farming sector. The review focused on factors that influence water security in smallholder farming systems in South Africa and also proposed possible solutions to improve the water security status for smallholder farmers. A search of published articles was conducted on Scopus and Google Scholar databases using the keywords water access, water security, water scarcity, smallholder farmers, smallholder agriculture and South Africa. The study identified various factors that contribute to water insecurity for smallholder farmers, including lack of adequate infrastructure, the poor performance of water infrastructure, lack of farmer involvement in water-related management activities and land tenure insecurity. Smallholder farmers also failed to acquire water-use licences. During periods of drought, they were unable to adopt strategies for improving water security. Recommendations include addressing issues related to infrastructure availability, water allocation and distribution, and the capability to operate, manage and maintain the infrastructure. The study also recommends that policy and decision-makers be acknowledged and address the impacts of droughts on water resource availability.

Consider How Social Distancing Policies Can Affect Drinking Water Infrastructure Performance.

Consider How Social Distancing Policies Can Affect Drinking Water Infrastructure Performance.

Robust and Transparent Method to Measure Water Infrastructure Performance in the United States

AbstractThis technical note introduces a robust and transparent way of measuring the United States’ water infrastructure performance. The unique characteristics of the proposed Water Infrastructure...

Water infrastructure maintainability – issues and challenges in the coastal regions of Akwa Ibom State

In this study, incessant collapse of water infrastructure along with shortage of water supply from public mains due to poor maintenance culture within the coastal areas of Akwa Ibom State are the key issues and challenges associated with the performance of water infrastructure in the area under consideration. These indices have been of great concern to building services engineers, estate managers and other stakeholders within the built environment. With the option of continuous (periodic) and practical maintenance culture as a panacea, effective water supply is guaranteed. This study has established better ways of tackling these problems (indicative risks) concerning maintainability of water infrastructure for optimum service delivery. Qualitative analyses were performed on air and water samples collected within the affected water infrastructure environment. In this case, concrete water stanchions (CWS) and steel water stanchions (SWS) along with the mechanical systems: submersible pumps, control valves performance were also evaluated to ascertain the level of environmental damages meted on the water works over a period of time upon commissioning and use. From the achievable tests, it is evident that the pH (-) results are higher in the investigated CWS than SWS except the turbidity results which are at par. These results have demonstrated that CWS is preferable to SWS for ease of periodic maintenance.
 Keywords: Concrete stanchion, environment, maintenance, mechanical systems, steel stanchion

Securing Environmental Flows Through System Reoperation and Management: Lessons From Case Studies of Implementation

Water-management infrastructure, such as dams, diversions, and levees, provides important benefits to society, including energy, flood management and water supply, but this infrastructure is a primary cause of the decline of freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Due to these declines, recent attention has focused on improving the environmental performance of water infrastructure, such as modifying the location, design or operation of infrastructure to maintain or restore environmental flows. Despite growing attention to the importance of environmental flows, and continued advancement in flow assessment methods, implementation of flow protection or restoration has lagged expectations. In this paper we describe how pursuing environmental flows at the scale of infrastructure systems, rather than individual sites, such as a dam, offers two pathways to increased implementation of environmental flows. First, policy and management mechanisms that apply to large areas—river basins or political jurisdictions—can catalyze large-scale implementation of flow protection or restoration. We provide two examples of system-scale policy and management mechanisms: flow protection policies and system-scale hydropower planning and management. Although system-scale policy and management offer a clear path to large-scale implementation, there will continue to be a need for flow implementation that occurs at smaller scales, such as a high priority river reach. The second pathway focuses on implementation at that scale—such as environmental flow releases from a dam or small set of dams—but embeds dam reoperation or site-scale flow implementation within reoperation of the larger systems of resource management within which the dam or ecosystem is located. These systems of resource management can encompass various sectors and here we provide examples of dam reoperation or flow implementation facilitated by solutions that included changes to the management of (1) water supply systems; (2) floodplains; and (3) irrigation systems. We illustrate both of these system-scale pathways through a set of case studies, drawn primarily from North America, each of which includes an example of current implementation.

Solving Management Problems in Water Distribution Networks: A Survey of Approaches and Mathematical Models

Modern water distribution networks (WDNs) are complex and difficult to manage due to increased level of urbanization, varying consumer demands, ageing infrastructure, operational costs, and inadequate water resources. The management problems in such complex networks may be classified into short-term, medium-term, and long-term, depending on the duration at which the problems are solved or considered. To address the management problems associated with WDNs, mathematical models facilitate analysis and improvement of the performance of water infrastructure at minimum operational cost, and have been used by researchers, water utility managers, and operators. This paper presents a detailed review of the management problems and essential mathematical models that are used to address these problems at various phases of WDNs. In addition, it also discusses the main approaches to address these management problems to meet customer demands at the required pressure in terms of adequate water quantity and quality. Key challenges that are associated with the management of WDNs are discussed. Also, new directions for future research studies are suggested to enable water utility managers and researchers to improve the performance of water distribution networks.

Design and operation of urban wastewater systems considering reliability, risk and resilience

Reliability, risk and resilience are strongly related concepts and have been widely utilised in the context of water infrastructure performance analysis. However, there are many ways in which each measure can be formulated (depending on the reliability of what, risk to what from what, and resilience of what to what) and the relationships will differ depending on the formulations used. This research has developed a framework to explore the ways in which reliability, risk and resilience may be formulated, identifying possible components and knowledge required for calculation of each and formalising the conceptual relationships between specified and general resilience. This utilises the Safe & SuRe framework, which shows how threats to a water system can result in consequences for society, the economy and the environment, to enable the formulations to be derived in a logical manner and to ensure consistency in any comparisons. The framework is used to investigate the relationship between levels of reliability, risk and resilience provided by multiple operational control and design strategies for an urban wastewater system case study. The results highlight that, although reliability, risk and resilience values may exhibit correlations, designing for just one is insufficient: reliability, risk and resilience are complementary rather than interchangeable measures and one cannot be used as a substitute for another. Furthermore, it is shown that commonly used formulations address only a small fraction of the possibilities and a more comprehensive assessment of a system's response to threats is necessary to provide a comprehensive understanding of risk and resilience.

Reliability-Based Assessment of Lifecycle Cost of Urban Water Distribution Infrastructures

AbstractWater distribution systems, as an urban infrastructure, have an indisputable role in the productivity of a society and the quality of life of its residents. It is necessary to develop policies for evaluation of the urban infrastructure performance and determining the proper time of maintenance and rehabilitation activities to increase system productivity and expand the system’s efficient performance time. In this paper, an algorithm is developed to evaluate the efficiency of urban water infrastructure performance, broken down into costs and benefits, and to determine the optimal time of water distribution network (WDN) rehabilitation using a probabilistic approach. The proposed algorithm is examined in a real water distribution network in Iran. Considering different break scenarios, the WDN’s performance within the projected performance period is simulated. The efficiency of the WDN is quantified using a reliability-based indicator, and costs and benefits of its performance are also evaluated. Bas...

Innovation in the water industry: barriers and opportunities for US and UK utilities

Water utilities face a variety of challenges in meeting future demands under climate uncertainty, addressing aging infrastructure, ensuring water quality, and reducing energy use. The agility of the utility to implement innovative solutions to these challenges depends upon a variety of factors including utility governance and culture, regulatory environment, condition and performance of water infrastructure, and funding mechanisms for system improvements. The consequences of failing to meet these challenges could include environmental degradation, public health risks, and reductions in the level of service customers have come to expect, all at a highly elevated price. Two different types of water utilities are compared in this context: privately owned companies (using UK water companies as examples) and publicly owned utilities (using US municipal utilities as examples). Examples of innovation in the water industry, in the US and UK as well as globally, provide insight into the key barriers and opportunities for change. The successful drivers of innovation in the water industry are shown to include: a supportive culture at the water utility; a regulatory regime that allows or even promotes innovation; the financial ability to undertake research and implement improvements; and crucially, the backing of the public. Ultimately, neither the municipal nor the private model is perfect but the best elements of these could be combined as the basis for an innovative water utility of the future. WIREs Water 2015, 2:301–313. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1082This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance

Taking a second look: climate change, periodic relicensing and improved management of dams

Dams affect rivers and other freshwater ecosystems around the world. The structural performance and service delivery of many dams has seldom been assessed; many are unsafe and no longer deliver designed benefits. Changes in hydrology from climate change will require assessment of safety and operations of infrastructure. This creates an opportunity during relicensing for modification or removal of dams to render them safe, maximise their services and minimise social and environmental impacts. We examined case studies of reassessment of dams from Australia (New South Wales), China, France and the United States that illustrated the following: the management challenge of aging and unsafe dams; unrealised opportunities to improve environmental, social and economic benefits; and the benefits of inventory and relicensing systems. Key elements of an ideal regulatory system to optimise water infrastructure performance are identified, comprising periodic (time-limited) relicensing of all infrastructure overseen by an independent regulatory agency that would take decisions in the public interest through a transparent process, involving public participation. Each dam would have an identified owner who must apply best-available technologies to maximise safety, socioeconomic and environmental performance. Dam renovation could minimise current non-climate impacts, improve migration of aquatic wildlife and even attenuate some climate impacts on freshwater biota.

Field performance of a vortex type gross pollutant trap

The performance of a large vortex type of gross pollutant trap installed in a stormwater drain in Sydney was monitored for about three years. During the first one and a half years after installation the trap removed 600 kg/ha.a, or more than 80% of all the debris from storm flows. After this time its performance deteriorated due to internal blocking of the trap during storm events. By two years from installation the trap had virtually ceased to function. Water only passed through the trap for a few minutes after the initial increase of flow during a storm. It appears that laboratory indications of the effectiveness of this type of gross pollutant trap can be reproduced in field installations provided considerable attention is given to maintenance. The study has shown that monitoring is a key issue in ensuring ongoing performance of water infrastructure.