Geographic Information System Applications for Water Distribution Asset Management

Abstract

Water system information has traditionally been represented on physical map sheets, map books, ledger books and index cards. Because of the level of detail required, a water system map could be hundreds or thousands of pages long. The map, ledger books and index cards can be extremely unwieldy and present difficulty in trying to find specific information. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer mapping and analysis system that allows features to be displayed graphically in layers using a coordinate system and linked to attribute data. By linking information electronically, data can be sorted, combined, and analyzed in ways that would have been impossible previously. This thesis illustrates the potential usefulness of a GIS applied to manage the assets of a water distribution system, with specific application to the City of Youngstown Water Distribution System. The downtown area of Youngstown, Ohio was chosen for a pilot study. Geodatabase layers and attribute tables were developed for water lines and hydrants. Several applications of the GIS for distribution system maintenance were demonstrated. The ability to obtain global position system (GPS) coordinates and to incorporate into the GIS was also shown to be possible. This study shows that, using existing personnel and available technology, a GIS can be implemented for asset management at the daily operations level and also at the budgeting and planning level. The initial cost for equipment totals $48,000 and can be implemented for daily operations immediately with no increase in personnel costs with a project payback time of 50 weeks.