Water liquid and irrigation engineering 2001 

 

 

“On a glass of water” 

 

Ing Anna Reznik m.s.c* 

 

 

 

The state of emergency in the water sector that was created by the pollution of the national carrier’s water by ammonia last month raised an old issue whose main point is: in an emergency, do local authorities have to prepare, within a reasonable time, for water supply to the population? In other words, does the authority has the resources for checking the piping and water supply resources – without relating to the water carrier – that is, clarifying if the location of the faucets and their functioning, which well to operate in order to provide the required amount of water, etc.

It is known to all the in order to receive information supporting the decisions making about the staff’s character and the needed equipment for treating the problems arising in an emergency, there’s a need in establishing a computed data center, which allows penetration of information, retrieval and updating as needed.

Moreover, through printed reports that include information on vital topics, such as:
Faults history, care and maintenance dates, type of elements and location maps, will be able to operate quickly and accurately.

Regarding water additives, such as chlorine and fluoride, the information center is an important tool in locating problems in the various water sources in the city and in the source of water supply to each area (Mekorot Company or wells).

 

 

Techno – economic aspects 

 

Level 1 water piping system management  

 

The water piping management map contains the main and secondary water pipes spreading – without sorting the point objects, such as: faucets, and fire hydrants. This, for the purpose of principled management in “Macro”. 

 

 

Level 2 water piping system management  

 

 

The need to manage level 2 water piping systems, comes from the obligatory coordination of layering new water pipes and integrating them into an existing infrastructure system, while avoiding unnecessary “opening” or roads and significant savings in resources. The coordination map includes all the latest information and allows for the recipient of statistical reports at all levels and a summary of individual water sections – up to entire networks.

 

The database allows vital graphic and alphanumeric information:

• Network’s name, network’s part (low/high pressure, delivering or supplying for appointments
• Year of pipe layering
• Year of switching the line or checkup
• Valve (on a main line or on creation)
• Section
• Pipe’s diameter and depth
• Ruling valves
• Valve’s situation (open/closed, proper/improper)
• Exits (main and secondary connection)
• Exists’ diameters
• Hydrants (type)

The graphical and alphanumeric database supports the overall system: ongoing maintenance and the issuance of various tenders – while paying attention to annual and calculated economic planning, which relies on real base data.

 

In addition, all the system’s data is used for the master plan of the evolving urban network at an accelerated pace. Providing information to the relevant parties that corresponds to the existing situation in the area for excavation, also allows an unequivocal demand for payment for damages caused by damage to the various infrastructures under the responsibility of the municipality, and for payment for immediate damages (cost of repairing liquidity) and long-term damages.

 

Additionally, delivering updated and reliable information for the various planning offices allows reliable and quick planning, and lowering the costs of the project (lowering an unexpected section in advance). The computerized information’s clarity and its availability enable professional and reliable cooperation of the various divisions in everything related to building rights, infrastructure maintenance and the establishment of new infrastructure systems. All of these together make a significant contribution to improving the management of the city or authority and the quality of life in it.

 

In light of our extensive experience in performing infrastructure mapping, we were present to discover gaps in the requirements, in collecting data and dating the infrastructures. In order to guarantee a professional, engineering execution of infrastructure mapping, there will be a need for examining the data of the infrastructures existing in the municipalities. Most authorities have plans from different times in the municipal archives. However, the infrastructure sections appearing in the plans are not continuous and are not uniformly edited. There are also problems in verifying the plan in the field, since the situation in the field is sometimes different from the documented situation – due to the development process in the city.

 

Since the authority’s archive does not faithfully reflect the infrastructure data in the field, there is a need for verification of data in the field and measurement by a surveyor – actions that will ensure the existence of an infrastructure archive that contains the infrastructure data in full.

 

Data collecting 

 

Collecting data from the field

 

 This method guarantees high reliability in the data’s level and their suitability. The data collection process is done in three main steps:
a. Collecting material from the plans and preparing background – before operating the infrastructures mapping – based on photogrammetric maps existing in the municipality
b. Collecting data on the field while opening check boxes (“niches”)
c. Computerizing the data and suiting them for the municipal background layers.
Collaborated data collection
Collecting data I a combined manner from the archive and performing a sample test of the data in the field.
In this method, opening niches is performed in a controlled manner, depending on the quality of the material in the archive.
It is worth noting that this plan must address the mapping of infrastructures in new neighborhoods. This is due to the transferring of data to the municipality in computerized AS-MADE programs, and due to the fact that not much time has passed since the implementation of the wet infrastructure.
The data about the infrastructure will be collected from plans stored in the city archives and from a database of private planners. The data of the plans will be plotted with the output of the autogrammetric mapping.
All the data contained in the various programs will be absorbed into the proposed database. The implementation of this data collection method raises the need for high-quality infrastructure mapping of plans after execution.

 

 

 

 

Technical clarifications regarding the method of collecting data from the plans 

 

The source of the material for computing is AS-MADE maps (“after-execution”). This data source raises a number of problems in the process of absorbing and computing the material:

1. Infrastructure data on AS-MADE maps – not complete.
2. AS-MADE data – without geographical anchoring – there are no coordinates – so the reference to the information, in this case, may be reference to schematic information only
3. The background that appears on the maps (signs of plots and/or buildings and other details) is not necessarily accurate and not always up to date.
4. The diameter of each AS-MADE map may be different. In addition, there are many cases where the length (numerical) data on the map does not match the declared width of the map.
5. In some maps, there is an overlap between one map and another and there may be discrepancies between the maps.
6. In any case, the data of the map is required. Similarly, there is a problem with the data continuity between the maps, that is, a situation of incompatibility may arise.
7. There is no “index map” for AS-MADE programs in the city.
8. The “fitness” data of the faucets do not appear on the maps for the identified details around them (dimensions that may cause problems regarding the geographical location of the faucets).
Based on the problematic points above, it is necessary to emphasize that with this collection method, it is impossible to make an absorption with geographical accuracy for infrastructure. This is due to the following reasons:
1. In cases of discrepancies between the information described on the map and the new photogrammetric background on which the network is recorded, the receiving user will be required to exercise his discretion.
2. Preparatory work will be required on each street - before the beginning of the absorption - to find out the issue of continuity and overlap between the various AS-MADE maps that apply to the street.
3. It is not possible to make a geographical comparison (for example in the format "infrastructure coordination") between water data and other infrastructures (for example sewage, lighting, etc.).
Naturally, the question arises:
Should and when to invest the sums required for the construction of an infrastructure project?
In order to reach a decision on the amounts required for the construction of the project and the collection method that the authority will choose to carry out, the goal mush be defined as such:
Will the database be used only as a management tool? – Level 1 pipeline management.
Will the database be a basis for infrastructure coordination? – Level 2 pipeline management
Will the database be a tool and routine maintenance, etc.?
This, taking into account the quality of the existing material.
Regarding the question of whether and when to invest – the answer is here now and immediately!

 

 

 

To view the original publication, click here: