Performance Assessment Model for Water Networks

Water network performance assessment is a challenging concern that is facing worldwide municipalities. The necessity of providing continuous potable water under tight budget places extra pressure on municipalities and triggers the need for proper performance assessment. Accordingly, this research opts to develop a water networks performance assessment (WNPA) model to precisely assess the performance of the water networks' components. The model revolves through two key indices: (1) Pipes Performance Index (PPI) and (2) accessories performance index (API). These indictors reflect the status of network components, their deterioration levels and propose consequence preventative actions. Furthermore, WNPA utilized a fuzzy analytical network process (FANP) to identify and evaluate the weights of functional performance criteria (physical, operational, quality of service, and environmental) for the pipes and accessories. It also exploits both the preference ranking organization method of enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) and simple multi attribute utility theory (MAUT) to compute the functional and global performance indices for the network components. In order to compute the weights, data are collected through water network experts. WNPA is applied to a Canadian water sub-network in which the results showed that most of existing pipes and accessories are in a medium state, which is well-aligned with the actual results. Thus, it can be concluded that WNPA proved to be a promising tool with high capability in assessing the performance of water networks' components.