| This project describes a methodology for developing a digitized GIS-based inventory of underground municipal utilities, and recommends an approach for developing a database, which will assist with considerably improved management of buried systems and effective use of limited available resources. The study also discusses the water and sewer infrastructure debt and the total infrastructure debt in Canada. Some other issues related to the Canadian water infrastructure, such as water pricing and consumption patterns, along with the deterioration mechanisms of the underground services, are also discussed. The study focuses on the main services of water supply and sewage systems in any Canadian municipality, which presently are in an advanced state of deterioration. The steps required to develop such an inventory are reviewed and suggestions are made for condition assessment of the system using non-destructive techniques, employing simple methods, as well as more sophisticated tests in critical sectors, where further investigation is required. These methods are also summarily revised.;The long-term goal of the project is to extrapolate the McGill "model", and to enhance it such that the municipalities in Canada can implement it as a basis for development of GIS-based inventories and condition assessment, and prioritization for effective management of underground services, which include scheduling, financing and implementation of repair, rehabilitation and replacement of underground and other infrastructure.;The underground infrastructure of the McGill Downtown Campus is summarily described; it comprises the various underground features which exist in a small community, e.g. water-supply and sewage system, electrical lines, gas pipelines, telecommunication networks, etc., which are similar with Montreal's underground services, in terms of age, materials employed, workmanship and technologies available over the past 175 to 200 years. The framework for the underground infrastructure inventory is proposed for implementation in a small community such as the McGill Downtown Campus. |
