Optimising clean water valve maintenance
Enhancing efficiency and reducing failures through proactive maintenance, surveying, and investment planning
10 June 2024 | 2 min read
Michael Butler
Comprehensive asset management strategies
RPS has extensive engineering and operational experience in clean water distribution networks across the UK and is well placed to assist with asset management. Through our experience in clean water network maintenance, RPS can target three key areas: planning, surveying, and developing maintenance strategies.
Asset records and scheduling
Current proactive maintenance strategies targeting fittings across the UK typically focus on large diameter trunk main networks. However, targeting the entire distribution network will reduce the likelihood of fitting-related failures going forward. Using RPS’s extensive planning and analytical experience, databases, and scheduling systems, such as those available in Waternet, can be utilised to help determine the most appropriate mechanism for developing asset surveys and inspections. These will then feed into investment planning.
Data from visual inspection programs can significantly enhance maintenance scheduling by providing additional factors to use in prioritisation. Leakage, pipe failure, and water quality can also be investigated to assist with prioritisation.
Prioritisation factors can be used to develop a red, amber, green (RAG) status for each asset, enabling maintenance to be appropriately prioritised. RPS has helped multiple water companies develop visual inspection programs, with further prioritisation factors including:
- Head loss (reductions to water pressure).
- Fitting accessibility; accessibility to the location of the fitting and access via the chamber.
- Fitting location type; urban/rural, industrial, farmland containing livestock, etc.
- Fitting and chamber condition.
- Reports containing photographs taken during field surveys.
Asset survey and inspection
Our operational teams have experience of carrying out efficient field surveys and have frequently identified fittings as a cause of failure on distribution networks, leading to reactive maintenance activities. A more proactive approach to fitting maintenance and replacement would help to prevent issues such as head loss and groundwater ingress from occurring and field surveys will assist with prioritisation.
Utilising our modelling experience, network and hydraulic anomalies can be identified and highlighted for investigation across the network, both locally and at a strategic level. Sites can be investigated, and additional data gathered to assist with investment planning.
Investment planning
We can utilise the findings from the field surveys and asset records to develop short- and long-term maintenance strategies tailored to the network requirements. These strategies can feed into investment planning tools and ultimately contribute to the delivery of targets.
To assist with investment planning, our analytics and modelling teams can investigate the risk of failure of assets and the impact that failure would have on the network.
Our technical delivery team can subsequently assist with conceptual design of civil works where required, through their extensive experience, allowing for the development of robust investment strategies. Cost benefit analysis of maintenance strategies can be utilised to develop the most economically feasible approach.
