Assessment of Drinking Water Distribution Networks – new Performance Indicators: System Index “Drinking Water Distribution Network” (SIT) and “Sustain ability Index” (IN)

Abstract

The sustainable management of Drinking Water Distribution Networks (DN) is of utmost importance especially due to today’s increasing cost pressure. Since the DN have a long life cycle, mistakes in estimation of the networks’ state and under investment will only be recognized in the future. Insufficient investment in a deficient network will cause increased costs of operation, deterioration of water quality and increased risks for the water supply. Such a situation is only remediable in the long or medium-term and through large expenditures. The new procedure proposed in this paper makes it possible 1. to describe the current state of the DN using established performance indicators 2. in order to use the current condition and rehabilitation rates to forecast the mediumterm sustainability 3. to then be able estimating the investment budget required to meet the target development of the state of the network.