Abstract:
Urban water systems are essential to modern societies; managing them strategically is a challenge as th
ey require continuous and costly capital maintenance to assure the service sustainability. Therefore, wis
e rehabilitation and maintenance planning are essential. This paper presents an application of an innova
tive urban water infrastructure asset management (IAM) methodology, the AWARE-P approach, to the
case of the Oeiras and Amadora water utility (SMAS O&A). This IAM approach considers three level
s of planning: strategic, tactical and operational, corresponding to long-, medium- and short-term horiz
ons. One of the main advances of the AWARE-P approach is considering assessment dimensions other
than cost, namely performance and risk. The entire utility was considered at the strategic level and at a
first stage of the tactical level. One District Metering Area of the water network was used as pilot for te
sting the AWARE-P procedure at the more detailed level of tactical planning. Five IAM alternatives w
ere devised; a traditional like-for-like pipe replacement alternative was considered among other optimal
design alternatives that take into account energy efficiency and system’s resilience. The alternatives w
ere assessed and compared and, finally, the best alternative was selected using a simple multi-criteria d
ecision method. The application of the AWARE-P approach by SMAS O&A contributed to a shift of p
aradigm within the organisation with regard to rehabilitation.
