AWWA JAW48194

This article discusses the advantages of using a geographic information system (GIS) in water supply applications. A GIS was developed for maintenance operations at a small (6,104 customers) utility district, the Beecher Water District in Michigan. The GIS application design presented in this study illustrates three characteristics unique to GIS applications: accurate representation of the relevant physical and environmental processes; the high relative cost of data modeling and data preparation (data acquisition, conversion, entry, and editing typically account for 45-80 percent of the total project budget); and, the spatial nature of the data (which forces decisions about the degree of accuracy needed in positional and attribute data and about manipulation of data layers). The results of the study give an accurate depiction of the water supply processes, including the hydraulic characteristics of the infrastructure and the service requirements. Includes 12 references, tables, figures.