(USU) Utah State University, Utah Water Research Laboratory

 The aging of infrastructure in North America will require significant investments in the future. The goal is to provide water system managers and engineers with regional and national information on the performance of different pipeline materials.

Water main break rates are an important calculation to assess pipe performance and durability, and are the most critical metric used in water infrastructure asset management as well as pipe repair and replacement decision-making. This study provides greater insight into the drivers of the aging water infrastructure crisis and offers data which utilities can use to benchmark pipe material performance. It will be a valuable asset management planning tool for water utilities.

Download:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/water_rep/682/

The lead researcher for the first two surveys was Dr. Steven Folkman, former head of Utah State University's (USU) Buried Structures Laboratory and an internationally recognized expert in analysis and testing of all kinds of pipe and associated underground structures. Dr. Folkman is now retired and Professor Emeritus at USU but will be collaborating in the 2022 initiative as an adviser and reviewer.

Heading up the current effort is Steven L. Barfuss, who is a Research Professor at USU in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and also an Associate Director at the Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL). Steve has over 35 years of research experience at the UWRL and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on his research in national and international journals. He also has considerable experience in the hydraulics of pipelines and pipe failures.