{"id":55042,"date":"2024-03-14T10:40:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T08:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/?post_type=showroom_cpt&p=55042"},"modified":"2024-08-30T14:22:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T11:22:23","slug":"kouvolan-vesi","status":"publish","type":"showroom_cpt","link":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/projects\/kouvolan-vesi\/","title":{"rendered":"Kouvolan Vesi investigated the renovation needs of its extensive water supply network"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kouvolan Vesi investigated the renovation needs of its extensive water supply network<\/h2>\n

The renovation needs analysis supports the management of the maintenance of Kouvolan Vesi’s extensive water and sewer network and the prioritisation of measures. The results of the analysis carried out by Sweco’s experts were combined with the water company’s already extensive online dataset.<\/p>\n

With the help of Sweco’s water supply experts<\/a>, Kouvolan Vesi wanted to determine\u00a0 the \u00a0renovation needs of its extensive network for the coming decades. There were no actual challenges in the operations yet, but there was a desire to diversify the calculation used to prioritise the projects so that the funds would be distributed wisely to different renovation investments.<\/p>\n

“Until now, we have selected renovation sites based on the age of the pipes, leaks in the water supply network and blockages in the sewer network. Now we wanted to take other influencing factors into account,” says Mikko Tiainen, Planning Manager at Kouvolan Vesi.<\/p>\n

Kouvolan Vesi has a tradition of recording information about every leak and blockage in the company’s online information system. “Kouvola has acted in an exemplary manner, which provided reliable and comprehensive initial data for the renovation needs analysis,” says Jaana Pulkkinen, Head of Sweco’s Water Supply Asset Management Department. He also praises the company’s commitment to the analysis project. “It made the cooperation rewarding and ensured a good outcome.”<\/p>\n

More than 1400 kilometers of aqueducts and sewers<\/h3>\n

The renovation needs analysis carried out by Sweco covered 1442 kilometres of water pipes and sewers in a large area, which includes not only old Kouvola but also four municipalities merged into the city. For computer analysis, the network was used to gather all possible information that could affect the condition of the pipes and the criticality of renovations.<\/p>\n

“In addition to traditional pipe construction and material data, we take into account pipe burst data and special features related to leakability and location in the criticality index calculations,” Pulkkinen says. For example, there may be a health centre or groundwater area near the site, which affects the urgency of renovation work.<\/p>\n

The leakage was taken into account based on the hydraulic model of the client’s wastewater network, and the client’s long experience helped determine the expected service lives of different materials. “We also used previous years’ costs to help calculate the renovation costs.<\/p>\n

Renovation needs in kilometres and euros<\/h3>\n

As a result, the customer received a reliable estimate of the annual renovation volume in kilometres and euros necessary for the entire network. “An analysis based on maintenance data also helped us find out the most susceptible materials and pipe sizes,” says Pulkkinen.<\/p>\n

The colour-coded results were illustrated on a map. “I have a large map printout of the results on display on the wall of my office,” Tiainen says. The analysis confirmed the sense of the renovation needs, but the answers no longer need to be pulled out of the sleeve. “In addition, we can look at the results of water and sewer networks on top of each other, which helps to find areas where it is time to renovate both.”<\/p>\n

Pulkkinen emphasises that analysis is also a good way to capture the tacit knowledge of network experts. “Kouvolan Vesi’s personnel have a huge amount of practical experience. That, too, has now been documented as part of the analysis.”<\/p>\n

Information on renovation needs facilitates project planning<\/h3>\n

According to Tiainen, the most valuable thing was to include the renovation needs information in the water company’s other digital online data and in the calculation of renovation indices. The information supports, among other things, maintenance resourcing and cooperation with the City.<\/p>\n

“In the best-case scenario, the city’s street renovation projects are in line with our pipeline renovation needs, but now we can tell quickly and numerically whether a design project is topical for us or not.”<\/p>\n

The collection of high-quality data will continue to be important, which is why Sweco’s experts summarised for the customer what matters should be continued in collecting data.<\/p>\n

“Our cooperation with Sweco will also continue in the construction planning of the renovation sites. After all, Sweco is our framework agreement partner in design,” Tiainen says.<\/p>\n

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Read more<\/h3> <\/div>\n \n
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Water management services<\/a><\/h4>