Development of a Prioritization Model for Rehabilitation of Pipes in Water Distribution Systems with Minimum Structural Data

Having a reliable rehabilitation plan with sufficient operational data is crucially important for the operation and maintenance of a water distribution systems. This research was conducted to develop a prioritization model for planning the rehabilitation of pipes in water networks when minimum structural data is available. To accomplish the main objective of the study, WDSR-Min model with Fuzzy TOPSIS technique capability was used to prioritize the pipes rehabilitation. The proposed model was used for the prioritization of pipes rehabilitation in a two-loop water distribution system. The prioritization of pipes rehabilitation were evaluated under two methods by using: 1) the pre-defined template of the WDSR-Min model, and 2) the template consistent with the conditions of the study area. The results showed that the rehabilitation plan obtained from WDSR-Min was aligned with the real needs for rehabilitation in the water network pipes. Furthermore, it was found that to prioritize the pipes rehabilitation it was preferred to localize the model criteria for the conditions of the study area, while to determine the pipes rehabilitation strategies the use of the pre-defined template of the WDSR-Min model was preferred. Using the proposed model in this work makes it possible to determine the prioritization/strategies of pipes rehabilitation using the minimum structural data of water distribution networks and independent of operational data.