Information Pipeline: Enhancing Pipeline Management Analysis using G IS at the Tarrant Regional Water District

摘要

The Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) is a political subdivision of the State of Texas formed in 1924 with the purposes of water supply and flood control. One of the largest raw water suppliers in the state, owns four reservoirs and over 150 miles of large diameter water transmission pipeline. 1.6 million people in North Central Texas currently rely on TRWD to provide reliable, clean raw water to its wholesale customer agencies. Engineers at TRWD discovered that the "real-world" conditions surrounding their pipelines had changed from that shown on their original "as-built" plans of construction. Additionally, routine inspection and analysis of the pipeline system and related aboveground features created numerous datasets necessary to accurately and efficiently plan capital improvement projects to maintain the pipelines and associated assets in a sustainable manner. TRWD was interested in leveraging their current investment in GIS technology to manage these critical assets and related features by utilizing the capabilities of the ESRI geodatabase. Given the complex nature of the problem, TRWD is utilizing a wide range of resources from various internal departments (Engineering and IT/GIS) and external consultants as well. GIS staff at TRWD created a detailed geodatabase that included information on aboveground features such as land use, soil conditions, utility networks, right-of-ways, parcel ownership, and aerial photography. For the underground pipeline information, TRWD contracted with the Pressure Pipe Inspection Company (PPIC) to develop the water transmission pipeline and add these features to this geodatabase. PPIC developed a detailed water transmission data model to track individual pipe segments, from bell to spigot, with inspection, integrity and repair information. Pipe segments were positioned using the inline inspection data collected by PPIC and the differential GPS data collected on aboveground features by TRWD.