Methodology for conducting criticality analyses in the water sector

The project aims to strengthen the water and wastewater sector’s ability to prioritise maintenance and reinvestment in a risk-based and systematic manner by developing and validating a sector-wide criticality analysis tool that helps organisations take the right action, at the right time and in the right place.

The purpose of the project is to strengthen the water and wastewater (W&WW) sector’s ability to work in a risk-based and systematic manner when prioritising the maintenance and reinvestment of water and wastewater assets, thereby enhancing resilience, service reliability and resource efficiency.

This will help organisations take the right action, at the right time, in the right place. The project is led by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and is carried out in collaboration with six water and wastewater organisations. The project objectives are to:

• Develop and validate a practical, sector-wide criticality analysis tool for the water and wastewater industry.
• Identify and address practical barriers to the implementation of criticality analysis within water and wastewater utilities, ensuring that both the tool and the associated work process are useful, understandable and feasible to apply in day-to-day operations.
• Design a clear workflow for conducting criticality analyses, supported by the developed tool and accompanying guidance material.
• Disseminate project results throughout the water and wastewater sector through reports, presentations and seminars.

The tool is planned to be developed in Microsoft Excel.

The results are expected to contribute to national knowledge development and provide a foundation for future research and innovation projects in smart maintenance, where IVL’s expertise can be applied through demonstrations at the Sjöstadsverket Water Innovation Centre (SWIC) and other collaborative platforms.