Watercare had 25 highly critical pressure pipes flagged as likely to be in poor condition, based on theoretical asset life rather than inspection. Failure of any one would disrupt water or wastewater services, force costly emergency repairs and cause environmental damage. Renewal of any single pipe runs into the millions, and Watercare had neither the budget nor the resources to renew all 25 at once.

Confidence in those condition grades was low. The real task was to raise it, so Watercare could progress the pipes genuinely at end of life to renewal, and confidently defer the ones with useful life left. Deferring renewal on assets that do not need it lowers the whole-of-life cost.

The work ran in two parts. First, a desktop assessment drawing on Watercare’s own records, freely available information such as soil maps, and site visits to inspect each pipeline. This gave every pipeline a preliminary condition grade, a confidence score, and a clear list of the information gaps holding that confidence down.

Second, field inspection to close those gaps. The programme used ultrasonic scanning, transient pressure monitoring, soil and wastewater sampling with lab analysis, visual and drone surveys, cathodic protection checks and core sampling. Inspections were packaged in batches, with up to 15 pipelines needing similar work, so contractors could mobilise for a large package at once and work efficiently. Most inspections were completed within two months.

ProjectMax ran the desktop assessment, managed the field programme, and delivered the final condition grades, confidence scores and renewal-timing recommendations. Specialist contractors carried out the field work.

Watercare progressed several pipelines straight to its short-term renewal programme, confident it was not spending resources digging up or relining pipes with decades of life left. For others, low-cost interventions such as spot repairs, protective coating renewal or cathodic protection were identified to bring them back to acceptable condition efficiently. The rest showed decades of remaining useful life and could be confidently deferred, lowering lifecycle cost. Watercare is now considering repeating the exercise on its next tier of critical assets.