BROOMFIELD, CO, May 25, 2011 -- The Philadelphia Water Department will adopt a drinking water infrastructure management and risk assessment solution from Innovyze.
The company's CapPlan Water solution will equip PWD with performance modeling and condition assessment capabilities to help strengthen and optimize its water infrastructure.
PWD, which began water system service in 1801, supplies water to the City of Philadelphia, PA (130 square mile service area), and portions of Montgomery, Delaware and Bucks Counties. The system serves over 1.7 million people through approximately 3,200 miles of mains, three water treatment plants and 15 pumping stations, and provides fire protection through more than 25,000 fire hydrants.
CapPlan Water allows utilities to assess both the probability and consequence of failure for each asset. Assets that affect system operation will normally rate high on the consequence scale, while assets in poor condition will have a high probability of failure.
Probability of failure is determined based on the pipe's physical condition (structural integrity, age, material, roughness factor, leakage/break/defect history) and location (proximity to a seismic fault or construction zone) as well as its hydraulic performance characteristics (head loss, pressure, velocity).
Consequence of failure draws on data such as water outages (schools, hospitals, critical care facilities); low- and no-water conditions; reduced fire protection capabilities; flooding, including structural damage and impacts of chlorinated water in natural waterways; degradation of water quality; and other factors.
The software calculates the risk of each asset linearly, allowing utilities to identify water mains at highest risk. Utilities can create fully prioritized short- and long-term water main rehabilitation, replacement, maintenance and management plans and develop sound, cost-effective capital programs to support them.
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