SIROCO, a decision support system for rehabilitation adapted for small and medium size water distribution companies

The SIROCO project (Système Intégré d’aide au Renouvellement Optimisé des COnduites adapté aux petites et moyennes collectivités distributrices d’eau potable) financed by the French Ministry of Research, is the result of a collaboration between Cemagref and G2C Environnement. In the framework of the European Commission-funded project, Care-W, (Computer Aided Rehabilitation of Water Networks) several tools and methods were developed, tested and then combined into an integrated decision support system for the rehabilitation of water distribution networks. Generally, Care-W was geared towards larger water companies with sufficient data at their disposal. The aim of the SIROCO project was to create a tool enabling small and medium size water distribution companies to prioritise pipes for rehabilitation. Individually, these companies do not have enough data to obtain reliable results from break prediction models. In order to overcome this problem, an amalgamated database consisting of data from several companies was proposed. In order to standardise and manage the data more effectively, a geographic information system (GIS) developed by G2C Environnement was used. A consortium of 16 water companies was established. Data defined in the framework of the project were collected and incorporated into the GIS by means of a purpose-designed interface. Cemagref then tested the principle of using a break prediction model on an amalgamated database. This enabled the feasibility of such a database to be evaluated. The predictions permitted the subsequent prioritisation of pipe rehabilitation candidates. Cemagref also tested a hydraulic reliability model on several of the water distribution networks. These tests were able to show that hydraulic reliability software can be used with data originating from a GIS, providing certain topological rules are respected. LESAM 2007 2nd Leading Edge Conference on Strategic Asset Management Lisbon, Portugal .:. 17 – 19 October SIROCO, a decision support system for rehabilitation adapted for small and medium size water distribution companies 1 A decision support system was constructed, based on specifications and constraints of the various water companies. It was designed to create a hierarchy of potential rehabilitation candidates based on pertinent criteria. The multi-criteria approach considers both the impact of failures and the opportunities for rehabilitation. The selection of criteria results from a compromise between these impacts and opportunities and by using the appropriate tools for the data available. On the basis of this project, G2C Environnement has developed the "SIROCO” software. An interface has been designed to allow the user to import all the necessary information at the beginning. Tools have also been developed to control the data and take into consideration the original topology of the network. An options module allows appropriate parameters and criteria to be chosen for each user. The mutualisation of the database is performed on a server by Cemagref with import and export functionalities being developed for this effect, so that each individual user only has access to his own data. From the data and model results, a separate module allows the multi-criteria analysis to be performed. This determines the ranking of pipes as rehabilitation candidates – information that can be displayed in graphic form on the GIS.