From the Geographical Information System to computer- assisted rehabilitation planning for water-supply systems

The Department of Domestic Water Management of the Technical University of Erfurt, Faculty of Engineering, participated, on the basis of cooperation agreements existing since 1994 with Thüwa Thüringen Wasser GmbH (formerly Erfurt Municipal Services), in solving the problem of rehabilitation of Erfurt's water piping system.

by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Harald Roscher, J. Stahl

Evaluation of damage reports, the setting-up of a damage data-base, computer processing and storage of system and damage data, division of the municipal district into sub-zones on the basis of urban structure and the road network (for determination of material structure by sub-zone and, on the basis of this, investigations into the comprehensive rehabilitation of water-supply systems), plus hydraulic studies of the problem of combined- water feed, provided the basis for testing of the OpNet software program. The use of this computer program for investigations into the comprehensive rehabilitation of sub-zones is examined in this article. The rehabilitation of sub-zones makes it possible to reduce water losses in the most severely affected district. The precondition, however, is measurement of water losses in sub-zones, combined with systematic leak detection. Materials science investigations were also to be more intensively integrated into these investigations, in order to take account not only of damage statistics but also of other influencing factors in the determination of the condition of the pipes in the system. The example of a district with relatively old first generation grey-cast-iron pipes was used to demonstrate that the pipe materials could be differentiated by production time, production method and anti-corrosion provisions and that damage statistics should not be the only basis used for rehabilitation of piping systems. Materials-science studies make it possible to isolate pipelines suitable for rehabilitation and utilize them to achieve cost-savings.

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published: Vulkan-Verlag GmbH, 3R 10 / 2004 (Oktober 2004), 10|2004
Keywords: Bulky Waste, Corrosion, Facility Planning, IT and Data Processing, Management Systems