Water network renewal strategy: a case study of Aigües De Barcelona

This paper presents a consistent and transparent methodology for the prioritisation of the pipeline sections to be renewed in the whole Aigües de Barcelona (AB) urban water network. The prioritisation index for pipeline renewal serves to evaluate the risk impact, in terms of sustainability, of each section of pipeline in the water distribution network for the purpose of its eventual renewal. Sections with higher prioritisation indices should thus be proposed as the first to be renewed. This methodology represents a meaningful step towards a sustainable and reliable management of water assets. Different economic, environmental and social aspects were considered through a probabilistic multi-criteria decision framework and an analytic hierarchy process was used to conciliate all stakeholder interests. A case study conducted for AB, a Spanish utility company dedicated to services, distribution and treatment of water, is presented in this article to show how the method gives accurate, consistent and repeatable evaluations.