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GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS For knowledge, programming and action management of a complex technological system by Maria Antonietta Breda
THE AUTHORS Maria Antonietta Breda, Maria Cristina Giambruno, Rosa Maria Rombolà – Milan Polytechnic, DAStU Teresa Grazia Emanuela Gentile, Serena Fracchia, Massimiliano Vidiri - MM Spa, S.I.I. MILAN POLYTECHNIC: University Institute founded in Milan in 1863. With over 42,822 students, it consists of faculties of Engineering, Architecture and Industrial Design. www.polimi.it
MM Spa: One of Italy’s largest and most diversified engineering companies, with a growing international presence, providing tailor-made solutions for the planning and redevelopment of urban ecosystems. The partner of institutions, managing bodies and public companies operating in the infrastructure, large-scale works, and network and services design and planning sectors. www.mmspa.eu
ENERGIA MEDIA Energia Media is a communication and public relations agency operating mainly in the energy, utility and smart city, and smart land sectors. It develops communication strategies, facilitates relationships, and processes content and information. www.energiamedia.it All images and photographs included in this document have been correctly purchased from data bases. Should the author believe that copyright rules have been violated, he is requested to contact the following address: comunicazione@energiamedia.it
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GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS For knowledge, programming and action management of a complex technological system. by Maria Antonietta Breda
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INTRODUCTION It has been calculated that approximately 9 billion litres of water are lost every day in Italy due to the age of the water network and sewage infrastructure1. MM Spa, the manager of the City of Milan’s Water System, makes major investments in water main pipes and sewer system to maintain and preserve high standards and service levels and, when possible, raise them to achieve performance excellence. Precisely in the pursuit of excellence is a study initiated some years ago and still in progress, which sees Milan Polytechnic Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) and the MM Spa Integrated Water System working together2. The current subject of study is the dating of Milan’s aqueduct distribution network, information which will be linked to every pipe already geo-referenced in the GIS. The dating of the network is a preparatory element for defining an action plan (maintenance and investment), the end result of analysis of several inputs, of which age is the cornerstone.3 On the economic side, there is the need to ensure long-term sustainability of the infrastructure component closely linked to the level of investment. On the social side, the main thrust involves access to services and specific user needs.
ACCADUEO - PAPER 5 -2018
APPROACH The starting point of the research is consideration of the elements of the Milanese aqueduct, the construction of which began in 1889. They are bearers of recent history which allows us to both unveil the past revealing construction events and urban history and to support decisions for the future, giving important decision-making elements for creation of the maintenance and action plans. One example of how urban development in Milan is intertwined with the history of the aqueduct can be highlighted by a previous work based on cataloguing historical documents of the MM Spa Integrated Water System. This has brought to light a series of important information which allows us to date and characterise with a certain precision plants in the drinking water pumping stations along with the related wells, network of supply pipes and to a small extent distribution pipes for drinking water in the various areas of the city of Milan. In this sense, the involvement of the university is seen as an opportunity to draw on skills and expertise to add value to the historical and cultural heritage of the launched project. Both the Polytechnic and MM Spa are, in fact, social stakeholders involved in processes of transformation and development of the city and territory.
RESEARCH AND METHOD Through the analysis of historical sources (projects, registers and surveys of pipe laying and replacement work), maps and urban plans, the research aims to ascribe the date of first installation of the pipes making up the aqueduct distribution network, and include this date in the MM Geographic Information System(GIS). The current research therefore aims to implement in the GIS a series of information concerning the individual sections of the entire mains network of the city laid each year, surveyed and recorded per individual road/street by length, diameter and material. The current mains network comprises approximately 2000 km of pipes, the laying date
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of which is known for only 260 km. Approximately 1740 km are therefore to be dated, 950 km of which are grey cast iron, 389 km nodular cast iron and 404 km steel4. The adopted methodology proposes an experimental path, in which synergy is sought between the interpretation of already acquired historical data and digitization of data obtained through cartographic representation in GIS. It is clear that this step is a delicate one, as the data created by the GIS needs to be easy to use, access and implement, operationally speaking. Going back to the social value of the project, sharing with citizens in the not too distant future is desirable.
THE WORK METHOD: HISTORICAL DATA AND GIS As mentioned above, the dating analysis of buildings and drinking water treatment plants and related wells field was completed prior to the current distribution network dating project. Using that work was therefore the first step for starting the current project; therefore input to a current map of the city was made of the geographic location of all pumping stations, related draining wells and part of the supply network (large pipes of significant outreach) built from 1888 to 1969. Key dating of these elements and the material already in the GIS, such as period images and documents, led to the formulation of a solid base for research. Positioning the oldest stations on the map required a comparison of the historical maps from the year of construction of the individual plants, provided by the City of Milan, with the project drawings in the Integrated Water System historic archive. Further investigation was necessary to understand the real location of some stations no longer in existence and in those cases in which the land has undergone major urban transformation over time, complicating the identification of the area (changes in existing road sections and inclusion of new roads, inclusion of buildings, parcel changes, covering of canals etc.).
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Similar issues arose with the current project to date the distribution pipes, as the work required precise in-depth historical research to identify streets whose name had been changed or places whose name is not specified in the documents. The research has shown that it is possible to date the Milanese water network with an acceptable degree of approximation and that this work can be useful for assessing the obsolescence of pipes, which constitutes an important tool for programming maintenance. It should be noted that using the available sources, for some sections it is not possible to establish the precise date of action, as this does not appear in the “Fascette� (site drawings) and registers, which are the only tools providing a dating indicating the day, month and year. For these portions, depending on the available sources it is only possible to identify/suppose the time thresholds during which the action could reasonably have been carried out.
USEFULNESS AND NATURE OF INNOVATION Knowledge of the date of laying pipes is useful as scientific support for decisions and for technical evaluation of the lifecycle of the network and more generally of works, or to improve the efficiency of the programming of maintenance and replacement work. In addition, it is a tool to be used along with metallurgical analysis3 to be performed on samples which are taken from the distribution network whenever the opportunity arises. In fact, one part of the experimentation consists precisely of understanding whether the age of production (and therefore of laying) of different pipes also corresponds to different chemical and physical properties. Through the research it will be possible to experiment with work methods and procedures allowing the proposal of supporting considerations on technical and scientific topics, such as: ÂĽ!
use of historical cartography and historical sources to define network construction
phases;
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use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for knowledge, programming and management of
a complex technological system; ¥!
possibility to create an abacus of the technical characteristics of pipes by historical period, which
could be useful for planning their renewal. While on one hand the historical research procedures and tools are established and tested, on the other the research activity provides “added value”, such as validation of suitable and reliable historical sources and their management with the GIS IT tool, so that we can orient ourselves in the timeframe of Milanese urban evolution such to render a unique, reliable and utilizable result for subsequent technical investigations. The laying date of water supply network pipes is certainly a significant indicator of the degree of wear of the water main supply network. The acquisition and sharing of historical knowledge considerably implements the decision-making capacity for the renewal and maintaining of excellent conditions of the city of Milan mains network.
NOTES 1!
P. Trombetti, Prefazione, in S. Tani, S. Mambretti, Tecniche di buona condotta. L’innovazione nel rin- no-
vamento delle reti del Servizio Idrico, MM Academy, Italian Association for Trenchless Technology (IATT), Milan 2018, p. 6. 2!
Participating in the project for MM Spa: Serena Fracchia, Teresa Grazia Emanuela Gentile, Marisa Man-
narino, Fabio Marelli, Giovanni Meroni, Stefano Tani, Massimiliano Vidiri. Previous collaboration for retrieval of historical documents: Teresa Demeco, Norma Polastri, Mauro Sant’Agostino and Diego Zanetti. 3!
The dating is also complemented with physical and chemical analysis of some samples entrusted to Mi-
lan Polytechnic (engineers Luca Magagnin and Luca Nobili). In addition to support for the dating, it is believed that metallurgical analyses of the samples can render information of a different type, e.g. degree of corrosion and types of deposits on the inner walls of the pipes. Therefore, with the experimentation underway together with other factors, it is intended to identify the breaking risk factor for the water supply distribution network, and thereby identify the action priorities. A similar path has already been taken for the sewer system, for which knowledge of age was already a familiar element. Through recent research (Becciu and Dresti, 2017) it has been shown that when the age of sewage structures is known, together with other factors, it is possible to calculate the risk of collapse. 4!
Data provided by MM Spa S.I.I 7
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