Wastewater Asset Management – Canadian’s Experience
- Speaker: Fayi Zhou, PhD, PMP, P.Eng., Manager, Drainage Design, EPCOR Utilities, Edmonton
- Time & Date: 14:10-15:30, Friday, October 14, 2022
- Location: CUI 219 (44 Gerrard Street East) – Map
- Zoom Link: https://ryerson.zoom.us/j/4612874120
For in-person attendance, please arrive at the front of the CUI building (facing Gerrard St.) at 2 pm when a student will wait there to receive and get you in. Since the door is card controlled, you may be locked out after 2 pm.
Abstract
Urban Wastewater Infrastructure plays a key role providing essential service to over 86% of population in Canada. With these infrastructure’s aging and deterioration, there are increasing demands on municipalities to invest significant amount of money to repair or replace the aging facilities to upgrade or maintain the level of service to the public. According to Canada’s Core Public Infrastructure Survey released in July 26, 2022, Water and Wastewater systems were composed of 4,126 wastewater treatment plants and lagoons, 3,342 water treatment facilities, 472,488 kilometers of underground pipes and others. 28% of total capital spending on infrastructure by municipal, local and regional government in 2020 was on water and sewer infrastructure. Infrastructure Report Card released in 2019, 16% of the potable water, 20% of wastewater and 16% of storm water infrastructure are poor or very poor condition. What need to rehab, when to rehab and how much will cost, these are the basic questions that decision makers in municipalities rely on in order to make the right decision in providing funding. Providing the answers of these questions rely on the best practice of asset management.
On October 14, Dr. Zhou will present a general overview on current and future water and wastewater assessment management practices in Canada, from inventory development and condition assessment to capital investment, with the emphasis on risk based asset-management. He will also provide some insights on some areas of concerns requiring further research attentions such as Big Data based quantitative risk ranking, and AI application in automatic condition assessment.
About the Speaker
Dr. Zhou is the manager of Drainage Design at EPCOR Utilities, City of Edmonton. He is also an adjunct professor at Concordia University in Montreal. He has over 35 years of experience in water and wastewater engineering both in the industry and academia with the specialties in urban drainage planning and design. He has been with the City of Edmonton since 2000 playing various roles of engineer, project manager and general supervisor. He led the drainage team in developing the first Low Impact Development Design Guide in Alberta, as well as developing drainage asset management system. He obtained his bachlor and master degree from Dalian Unviersity of Technology and his Ph.D from University of Alberta. He published over 70 papers in journals and conferences. He is a reviewer of Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (ASCE), Journal of Hydraulic Research (JHR) amd Journal of Fluid Engineering (JFE). He was on the board of director of North Sashatchewan Water Alliance(NSWA), Alberta Low Impact Development Partners (ALIDP).