LESAM 13

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From 9th-12th September 2013 the International Water Association (IWA) and the Australian Water Association (AWA) jointly convened a conference on “Strategic Asset Management of Water and Wastewater Infrastructure “ (Leading Edge Strategic Asset Management – LESAM13) at the Sydney Conference Centre on Darling Harbour. The principal thematic and topical areas were:

  • Asset optimisation
  • Emerging risks and opportunities
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Economic assessment and regulatory interest
  • Emerging trends
  • Intelligent networks
  • Organisational challenges

Representatives of research and utility partner organisations from the Advanced Condition Assessment and Pipe Failure Prediction Project participated in the conference.  Oral presentations were delivered on these topics:

  • Collaborative Research on Condition Assessment and Pipe Failure Prediction of Critical Water Mains
  • Long-term Corrosion of Buried Cast Iron Water Mains: Field Data Collection and Model Calibration
  • A Live Test-bed for the Advancement of Condition Assessment and Failure Prediction Research on Critical Pipes.

There was also a poster presentation on “Factors Contributing to Large Diameter Water Pipe Failure As Evident From Failure Inspection.

These papers can be seen on the Publications page of the website by following this link.

The conference began on Monday 9th September with two workshops. Workshop 1, sponsored by Sydney Water, was concerned with “Advanced Condition Assessment & Pipe Failure Prediction and Innovation in Critical Pipe Management”.

Over 50 people from 29 organisations registered for Workshop 1and these were from countries including The Netherlands, Germany, France, Portugal, Norway, Japan, USA, New Zealand and Australia.

Craig Crawley from Sydney Water opened the workshop with a presentation entitled “Why research condition and failure prediction?’  This was followed by presentations on Activity 1 of the Project from Professor Jayantha Kodikara of Monash University, from Associate Professor Jaime Valls Miro of University of Technology Sydney on Activity 2, and Activity 3 from Professor Kodikara on behalf of Professor Robert Melchers of The University of Newcastle.

 

Photo of attendees at Workshop 1 listening to one of the presentations.

After a short break the workshop continued with a Panel Discussion on “Innovation in Critical Pipe Management” with a panel comprising Thomas Kuen of Melbourne Water, Fang Chen of NICTA, Jayantha Kodikara as Chief Investigator of the Project and Janet Ham of Water Corporation.

Attendees put a range of questions to the panel members including, for example,:

  • Where are we now as a water industry on predicting pipe failure, and once this research is completed what will be the difference?
  • What trends are showing up around the world?
  • What are the long-term liabilities of having pipes buried in the ground?
  • What inputs to failure models are the most important?
  • How can we do condition assessment cost effectively?

The panel session delivered an engaging and productive discussion.

Panel members (from left to right): Thomas Kuen, Fang Chen, Jayantha Kodikara and Janet Ham.

Workshop 1 concluded in time for the lunch break which provided an opportunity for informal discussion and networking.

Photo taken at the end of the Workshop showing Professor Jayantha Kodikara, Chief Investigator for the Project , with Ms Tomomi Murakami of the International Operations Division of the Yokohama Water Works Bureau, Yokohama, Japan.

Author: Critical Pipes