Condition assessment of critical water infrastructure

We have provided useful information to guide decisions about the renewal of Sydney’s water assets.

Location

New South Wales, Australia

Client

Sydney Water

Project Status

Completed 2016

Sydney Water is Australia’s largest water and wastewater service provider. The utility supplies water, wastewater, recycled water and some stormwater services to more than five million people in Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains. As its water assets age and the demand placed on them grows, Sydney Water must regularly assess its critical infrastructure.

Comprehensive services

Sydney Water engaged us as one of three partners to assess the condition of its underground water (critical water mains) and sewer (sewer rising mains) pipelines, which are made from mild steel, ductile iron, and cast iron of varying pipe size. The total program included the inspection of approximately 350 km of pipeline. Some of the pipeline lies under major crossings such as railways.

We assessed the condition of each section of the pipeline using a two-stage approach, general inspection and detailed inspection. At the end of the first stage, we submitted a report to Sydney Water with our recommendation of whether a detailed inspection was required. After the detailed inspection, we provided a further report to Sydney Water.

The program included activities such as:

Pressure monitoring
Visual/detailed inspections
Installation of pressure sensors on pipes
Soil testing
Pipe scanning

Effective asset management

In our reports, we provided information on the probability of pipeline failure to Sydney Water. This will assist the utility in deciding when and how to renew infrastructure assets.

Pipeline length

350 km