Are my water assets vulnerable?

Have you ever conducted a vulnerability assessment to see what the biggest threats are to your water infrastructure? Have you ever wondered whether you have implemented sufficient control measures to minimise risk of damage to your water infrastructure should an undesirable event occur?

Well, if you always wondered but didn’t quite know how, the Water Research Commission (WRC) has again come to the rescue!! In the last few years, the WRC has been leading research on improved Infrastructure Asset Management (IAM) initiatives in South Africa. In particular, the WRC saw a need to assist water services institutions to identify and prioritize the vulnerable areas and risks associated with operation and maintenance of water services infrastructure and provide guidance regarding management of such risks. In addition to the development of a guidelines document (which will be published in the near future), this project has produced two spreadsheet based tools, namely:  

• waterVUL – Water Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment Tool

This tool is relatively easy to complete and provides a rapid indication of key areas of vulnerability.

• waterRISK – Water Infrastructure Risk Assessment Tool

This is a more detailed assessment tool which includes identification and assessment of threats, vulnerability and associated risk for all water services infrastructure assets.

These tools are available for download from the eWQMS and will greatly assist water services institutions with:

• Identifying water services related threats and challenges
• Determining vulnerability and risk associated with key assets
• Prioritizing appropriate actions (i.e. closing the critical gaps first)

If you need assistance with accessing the eWQMS to utilise the above tools, or would like clarity on the tools please do not hesitate to contact us.