NATIONAL PROBLEM

The US has over 985,000 miles of transmission and distribution water pipes managed by over 55,000 independently operated water utilities around the country. In the next 25 years the installed water pipeline infrastructure will need to be replaced at an estimated cost of $3.6 trillion dollars. Numerous water sector management practitioners have stated an urgent need to have a unified platform for the nation's pipeline infrastructure data and data-driven model using machine learning and artificial intelligence that is universally accessible and useful for life-cycle performance analysis.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Aging water infrastructure is a major economic and development issue for the US and the massive network of over 1 million miles of water pipes need to be maintained so that they age sustainably and economically. The Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) Center at Virginia Tech has developed a modeling platform for the nation's water pipeline infrastructure based on data collected from 500 water utilities and 100 federal facilities across the country. Pipeline Infrastructure Database (PIPEiD) is a web-based secured data-driven platform which can provide access to the standardized data and models packaged within a decision support system to enable water utilities to analyze and predict remaining useful life, risk and life-cycle economics for supporting data-driven water pipeline renewal decisions at all three major asset management decision levels: strategic, tactical, and operational. The project was funded by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) under the U.S. Congressional Direction to collect and compile field performance data.

GALLERY