Organizing and analyzing leak and break data for making main replacement decisions

Water main replacement decisions may be based on arbitrary criteria such as age or on historic operating records and the experiences of a utility. Use of the latter method enables a utility to analyze leak and break patterns and to develop rehabilitation‐replacement plans. The author provides an overview of the causes of water main breaks and leaks and then describes several studies in which water main breaks have been analyzed in terms of pipe age, geographic location, or diameter.