Virginia Tech Researchers Set The Stage For A National Database Of Water Pipe Infrastructure

摘要

A group of Virginia Tech faculty and researchers is working to create the prototype of a national Internet-based geospatial database of underground water pipes with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation. The project is a collaboration between Sunil Sinha, project leader and associate professor in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE); Randy Dymond, associate professor in the CEE department and co-director of Virginia Tech's Center for Geospatial Information Technology (CGIT); Thomas Dickerson, CGIT research associate; and Rahul Vemulapally, CEE graduate student. "Underground water pipes are the nation's arteries" said Sinha. "Unfortunately, they are not in a very healthy state. About 40 percent of the water is lost because of leaks and other structural damage." Sinha added that it is difficult to monitor and maintain underground pipes, but a standardized, Web-based geospatial database of the existing infrastructure information would be very helpful to water utility companies and municipalities.