Heating the Spot: GIS Helps Improve U.S. Water Infrastructure

摘要

In an effort to become more efficient over the last few years U.S. and Canadian water municipalities and have realised that there is an increased amount of data and knowledge required to better manage their operations, maintenance, and capital programs. The aging water infrastructure crisis is the main driver. With forecasts suggesting water tariffs will shoot through the roof to compensate, government officials and water management experts are searching for low cost solutions to better manage and maintain their systems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) suggests that nearly 60% of ongoing costs relate to the replacement of underground transmission and distribution networks (pipes) which have been out of sight and out of mind for decades. This mass backlog of work and analysis is requiring manual processes to evolve and use technology to improve the investment planning strategies.