doi:10.3850/978-981-08-7920-4_S1-F03-cd


Pipe Inefficiency at a Water Utility


Stacy Adachi and Amarjit Singh

University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.

ABSTRACT

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to determine the relative efficiency of cast iron, ductile iron, PVC, and concrete cylinder pipes in comparison to the composite pipe system at the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. The only input measure was the material and installation cost; output measures consisted of pipe length,maintenance cost, and quality control measures, including reliability and availability at the system and individual levels. The analysis was run for different outputmeasures such as combinations of systemand individual levels, availability, and reliability. The results of the DEA showed conclusively that concrete cylinder pipes are relatively inefficient compared to the composite pipe system. Consequently, it is recommended that the utility not install any new concrete cylinder pipes, and plan to replace concrete cylinder pipes with corresponding ductile iron and PVC piping.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Quality control, Reliability, Availability.



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