AQUA (soon to be relaunched as AQUA – Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society)  is pleased to announce the next paper in its Editor’s Choice series. These papers, specially selected by the new Editors-in-Chief Prof. Shuming Liu and Dr Pernille Ingildsen, will be made Open Access to allow them to be accessed by the maximum number of readers. Papers are chosen which particularly highlight interesting or new aspects of the journal’s scope.

This paper was chosen by Pernille Ingildsen, who says: 

Effective and efficient asset management of drinking water infra-structure is central to the overall sustainability of our cities water systems. In this paper Hiroshi Sakai, Mei Satake, Yasuhiro Arai and Satoshi Takizawa present a method to evaluate the overall condition of water infrastructure and looking into whether the state is improving or deteriorating if current practices are continued. The overall index includes sub-indices regarding pipeline age, water leakage (ineffective water), rate of change in the numbers of technical staff per unit length of pipeline and repair rate of water leaks. The evaluation divided utilities into five categories A: sound, B: Satisfactory, C: Caution, D: Warning, E: Critical. The study shows differences between different sizes of utilities. Overall Japan’s drinking water distribution pipelines score a C for caution. This just underlines the need to focus on good asset management practices to ensure the state does not slide downwards.

Read the #OpenAccess AQUA Editor's Choice Paper here: 

Report cards for aging and maintenance assessment of water-supply infrastructure

Hiroshi Sakai, Mei Satake, Yasuhiro Arai, Satoshi Takizawa

Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology - Aqua (2020) 69 (4): 355-364. 

https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2020.112