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Application of GIS in Urban Utility Planning and Management A Case Study of BWSSB GIS
 Mr. Abdullah Khan (President) EarthCAD Inc G-9, WTBIC RAK Free Trade Zone, Business Park PO Box 10559 Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) Tel: 00971 7 227 9919 Fax: 00971 7 236 1868 Email: akhan@earthcad.com  Mr. Sajid S Mahmood Sr. Environmental Engineer EarthCAD Inc G-9, WTBIC RAK Free Trade Zone Business Park PO Box 10559 Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) Tel: 00971 7 227 9919 Fax: 00971 7 236 1868 Mobile: 00971 50 589 4819 Email: earthcad@emirates.net.ae  Mr. M.A. Bangash Water Supply/Sanitation Engineer EarthCAD Inc G-9, WTBIC RAK Free Trade Zone , Business Park PO Box 10559 Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) Tel: 00971 7 227 9919 Email: earthcad@emirates.net.ae Introduction A comprehensive Geographical Information System (GIS) was developed by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) during the period from May 2000 to November 2002. The BWSSB GIS, very first of its kind in India, covers the spatial and alphanumerical database of water supply and sewerage networks spread over approximately 290 sqkm of BWSSB service area in Bangalore. It consists of a very comprehensive dataset, containing the network information starting from Water production/treatment facilities and wastewater treatment works, and going upto the consumer level. The project was implemented under the Indo-French Protocol, with financial assistance from the Govt of France. Total cost of the project was Rs 8.5 crores. The activities under the project included supply, installation and configuration of hardware and software required for creation and development of the GIS, as well as services related to data capture, database development and creation of front-end application modules alongwith user training. The materials and services were provided by a joint consortium of consultants involving IRAMconsult International (New Delhi, India), EarthCAD Inc (Ras Al Khaimah, UAE) and SCE (Nantes, France). Scope of work for the consultants included supply of hardware, software and network peripherals at the BWSSB Head Office and its five Divisional Offices, data collection, digitization, integration, data modeling, database development, creation of front end modules as well as user training in maintaining and further expanding the GIS. Project Background Bangalore is one of the fastest growing cities in India and has witnessed rapid growth in population particularly during the last 4 decades. From 1.2 million in 1961, population grew to over 6 million in 2001. The city is fast developing as an important commercial and educational center and there is a worldwide interest in the city now globally acknowledged as the "Silicon Valley" of Asia. BWSSB is the agency responsible for the provision and management of water supply and sewerage services in the metropolitan area of Bangalore. With the rapid increase in urban agglomerations, the demand for water supply, sewerage and sanitation systems grew simultaneously in the last four decades and to handle such a large system, it was felt to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) in BWSSB on a priority basis and the GIS project is a step in that direction. Need for GIS in Urban Utilities Planning - the BWSSB Case Water is one of the most capital-intensive industries, more so if an agency is responsible for providing domestic water to its consumers as well as to collect, treat and safely dispose the used water from them. As a result, owners and managers need to maximize the productivity of their assets in order to provide best value to customers. This requires a sound understanding of the condition and performance of the assets, the prioritized long term investment needs of the utility, and strategies that will fully utilize each and every asset and ensure outputs are achieved for minimum whole life expenditure. Asset Management is the dynamically integrated process by which Utilities determine capital and operational investment needs for above and below ground assets, in order that the strategic business needs of the company can be delivered. Asset management concept complements the development of the Utilities' business through the evolution of tools and procedures that enable strategic asset management of above ground assets and the buried infrastructure. It has been a general trend in utility companies in India that they do not maximize the benefit of available data and key performance indicators and have difficulties in quantifying how the flow of services to customers can be maintained in terms of either capital or operating expenditure. To address this, Asset Managers must adopt an integrated approach, where strategic level performance monitoring and prioritization tools are complemented at the tactical level by tools that identify the most cost-effective, capital investment solutions. Therefore, there is an imperative need to focus on the development of strategic and tactical level planning tools which are compatible with a quantitative and risk informed approach. Typically, these focus on establishing the link between asset condition, performance and serviceability and do so in a way that balances cost and risk in a cost-effective way. Such tools include serviceability assessment and performance modeling, risk-based decision making and whole-life costing approaches for asset rehabilitation. In BWSSB's case, given the size of the urban customer base it is responsible for, size of the fixed assets, increase in demand and tightening of regulatory standards would together drive the capital investment needs. In this regard it becomes imperative for BWSSB to maintain an accurate data set of assets under their control. The trend of past developments, current asset base and predicted shape of the future investment programs give BWSSB the ability to plan its business cash flow. It is in this particular area that geographic information is important and GIS systems have a valuable contribution to make. It is the power of bringing all of the information together which provides a holistic approach to the asset management of the BWSSB if it is to succeed in enhancing its performance. There is an old adage in the water business that: "new techniques + old work practices = expensive old practices" The new techniques for management of the asset base will give the BWSSB the unique possibility to direct information to any user who requires the data and to prevent them from falling into the trap of "expensive old practices". It is in the proper exploitation of their asset base that success or failure will lie. In view of the shear size and population of the city, BWSSB needs tools like GIS and Computerization to effectively plan and monitor the O&M of the systems and provide better services. GIS tools will also facilitate in the overall understanding of the water supply and sewerage system for future privatization initiatives since audit of the technical assets can be undertaken and financial viability can be better studied. A Brief Description of BWSSB GIS The BWSSB GIS covers the graphical and alphanumerical database related to water supply and sewerage networks spread over approximately 290 sqkms of the BWSSB service area in Bangalore. The digital basemaps of the BWSSB service area were provided by National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad. These maps were developed by NRSA through aerial photography followed by digital photogrammetry. The 290 sqkms of BWSSB area is represented by 195 maps, each covering 2 sqkms or less. These maps were prepared at 1:2000 scale. Before starting the development phase of the GIS database, a detailed analysis of BWSSB water supply and sewerage systems was carried out by the consultants' team comprising of water supply and sewerage experts. This study not only covered the historical, performance-related, functional and operational information of the networks, but also covered aspects like organizational and functional procedures of BWSSB, its planning, design, implementation, operation and maintenance strategies and methods as well as financial information of BWSSB corporate establishment. A Detailed Water supply and Sewerage system analysis is essential for better understanding of the systems and identify the information gaps and define the user needs. The purpose of this study was to have a comprehensive view of the existing water supply and sewerage systems. This would help in developing a more User Oriented GIS. Another activity, a very important one indeed, simultaneously taken up by the consultants was User Needs Assessment. The primary objective of the GIS was that it should cater to the needs of BWSSB, with respect to the user, its main tasks and functions as far as possible, with respect to planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of water supply and sewerage systems. To identify these needs of BWSSB, the consultants undertook the User Need Assessment through a scientific and systematic procedure of interviews at all levels of the organization. Based on the conclusions drawn from System Analysis and User Needs Assessment, the blueprint of the GIS including its database structure and front end modules was prepared by the consultants. Every single detail required for development of a GIS which would fulfill BWSSB's requirements and would suit its procedures, was outlined and data models were prepared. The GIS database structure was developed accordingly and a data dictionary was prepared to carry out the data collection through field investigations and other sources. Network data collection was carried out by the consultants through field survey using the copies of the NRSA basemaps printed at 1:1000 scale. Every street located within the 290 sqkms was investigated by the consultants' survey team accompanied by the BWSSB field staff. The graphical data like alignment of water supply pipes and sewers alongwith location of valves, manholes and other accessories was marked on the paper maps. The associated attribute information such as diameter, material, age etc. of the pipes, valves and manholes was recorded in separate attribute forms. The graphical information collected by the above described method was one again drawn on NRSA basemaps printed at 1:1200 scale, to perform quality control by water supply and sewerage engineers of the consultants' team to check for any discrepancies. After this quality control stage, this graphical information was digitized by the GIS Engineers using computer software and the alphanumerical information was attached to them. The BWSSB GIS also contains information about the consumer billing records of the BWSSB. All the water supply and sewerage bills that are issued by BWSSB to its consumers every month are computerized and the information is linked to the GIS so as to enable display and analysis of the spatial information related to this aspect of BWSSB operations. Moreover, the BWSSB employee database was also integrated in the GIS to make the complete information system an organization of the scale of BWSSB would need to manage it short-term as well as long term operations. The entire spatial and numeric data pertaining to the BWSSB networks, consumers and employees was integrated together to form the Geodatabase which is the core of the GIS. Furthermore the GIS database and the front end applications have been designed in such a way so as to enable the BWSSB service stations to integrate the daily complaints recorded by them and the actions/repairs undertaken to address the same. For instance these complaints could be related to a leakage detected in a certain water distribution pipe or it could be an overflowing manhole which is brought into notice of the service station staff, and so on. Another module developed as part of the GIS facilitates in recording the recurring water sampling undertaken by BWSSB staff and the results of the sample analysis carried out by the BWSSB Central Laboratory. This will help BWSSB in monitoring the quality of water it supplies to its consumers.  Figure. 1 schematic structure of methane monitoring based on fiber optic methane sensor The hardware and basic software required for creation, development, maintenance and management of the GIS was imported from France and was installed by the consultants at the BWSSB Head Office and its five maintenance divisions. The final GIS product was developed in form of four versions as follows - BISON Expert, BISON Light, MIP and BISON Explorer. BISON Expert BISON Expert is the main Geodatabase and has been installed at the Head Office. It has the entire digital map data and has been developed under ArcInfo and Oracle environments and software tools. BISON Expert will be periodically updated at the HO. BISON Light BISON Light as the name suggests is a lighter version of BISON and has been customized to suit the requirements of BWSSB Divisions and service stations to further disseminate the GIS and to make the tasks of updation more efficient at the field level especially with respect to operation and maintenance. Management Indicator Panel Management Indicator Panel (MIP) has been developed for the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of various tasks by the Chairman and Chief Engineers of BWSSB with reference to some indicators. BISON Explorer BISON Explorer is a communication aid meant to help create an awareness of BWSSB GIS. It can be carried in a CD and can be presented in meetings and demonstrations. Figure. 1 schematic structure of methane monitoring based on fiber optic methane sensor Use of BWSSB GIS in Urban Facility Planning and Management
Figure. 1 schematic structure of methane monitoring based on fiber optic methane sensor A Map showing Water Supply and Sewerage Networks of a Service Station The data structure of the BWSSB GIS can be utilized to record and analyze a great number of datasets associated with its operations and services as discussed below.
Figure. 1 schematic structure of methane monitoring based on fiber optic methane sensor A Map showing Missing Manhole Covers with "X" Sign
Conclusions The BWSSB GIS because of its unique and innovative approach and philosophy has set trends for other urban agencies in India. Application of GIS in Urban Utilities Planning and Management has proved to be revolutionary step not only in day-to-day management of utilities, but also in planning of future infrastructure which in most cases can have a very complex dimension because of the size of the urban settlement and the geographical coverage of the utility.
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