Urban water infrastructure asset management plan: case study

Abstract

The current paper aims the application of the Portuguese infrastructure asset management (IAM) methodology to a case study. The inevitable degradation of urban water infrastructures creates new challenges forwater utilities engineers and manager, as they need to decide which components should be rehabilitated to efficiently match the public’s demand, while still providing a qualitative and efficient service that doesn’t compromise the financial integrity of water utilities. This methodology is based on a five-step structured sequence - (i) definition of objectives assessment criteria and metrics; (ii) diagnosis; (iii) plan production; (iv) plan implementation; and (v) monitoring and revision – being structured in three distinct levels of planning and decision (i.e., strategic, tactical and operational). The IAM methodology was applied to a sixty-year-old water supply system (WSS) located in Lisbon’s metropolitan area, Portugal, mainly focused on steps (i) to (iii) and to the tactical level of planning. Results obtained are discussed and the main conclusions are presented.