Risk Analysis in the Absence of Data to Help Plan Capital Improvement Projects

Leveraging risk and data analytics for sustainable management of buried water infrastructure

“…Such models provide a more accurate and data‐oriented risk evaluation, while requiring a data‐intensive risk assessment approach that may be not suitable for all water utilities to employ. For such cases, a more qualitative approach is often used to obtain an initial baseline risk to identify areas in the network where further data collection may provide better insights into the actual risk profile (Vladeanu et al, 2021).…”

“…Risk of pipe failure can be categorized based on the underlying methodological framework as qualitative or quantitative assessments (Figure 1). Qualitative methods are typically based on expert judgment and/or use some type of score‐based models (El Chanati et al, 2016; Vladeanu & Matthews, 2018; Vladeanu & Matthews, 2019a, 2019b) to express the perceived risk of failure of assets in the form of likelihood $$$ \times $$$ failure impact (Vladeanu et al, 2021). Quantitative models, on the other hand, are data‐intensive methods that use a variety of data streams to evaluate the pipe‐level risk of failure, usually combining asset probability and consequence of failure in a systematic way (Christodoulou & Deligianni, 2010; Jafar et al, 2010; Large et al, 2014; Vladeanu et al, 2021).…”

“…Qualitative methods are typically based on expert judgment and/or use some type of score‐based models (El Chanati et al, 2016; Vladeanu & Matthews, 2018; Vladeanu & Matthews, 2019a, 2019b) to express the perceived risk of failure of assets in the form of likelihood $$$ \times $$$ failure impact (Vladeanu et al, 2021). Quantitative models, on the other hand, are data‐intensive methods that use a variety of data streams to evaluate the pipe‐level risk of failure, usually combining asset probability and consequence of failure in a systematic way (Christodoulou & Deligianni, 2010; Jafar et al, 2010; Large et al, 2014; Vladeanu et al, 2021). Generally, quantitative risk models leverage information and data of the network's hydraulics, system connectivity, asset environmental attributes, type, and count of potable water users, and the impact of each customer's service loss, among others.…”

“…Risk of pipe failure can be categorized based on the underlying methodological framework as qualitative or quantitative assessments (Figure 1). Qualitative methods are typically based on expert judgment and/or use some type of score-based models (El Chanati et al, 2016;Vladeanu & Matthews, 2018;Vladeanu & Matthews, 2019a, 2019b to express the perceived risk of failure of assets in the form of likelihood  failure impact (Vladeanu et al, 2021). Quantitative models, on the other…”

“…This comparison analysis is meant to emphasize how the choice of a qualitative or quantitative risk assessment and data availability affects a water utility's long-term financial planning. The detailed model development and the results of the qualitative risk evaluation are presented in detail in the work of Vladeanu et al (2021).…”