Smart Solutions for Understanding Simple Systems

Opus International Consultants Ltd. was engaged by the Christchurch City Council to investigate their stormwater network in the Port Hills. This investigation was driven by Council to both determine the network condition and prioritise the repair of damage anticipated from the series of earthquakes in Canterbury from September 2010 – June 2011.

This investigation was required to determine:

1. The condition of the network (including the identification of earthquake specific damage).

2. Emergency (urgent) works required to address immediate failures within the network.

3. Priorities for the CCC remedial works programme. T

he Opus project team faced several challenges in completing these investigations. This included the determination of the:

• Condition of a wide variety of assets in standardised repeatable manner.
• Differentiate between earthquake damage vs. age deterioration for the asset.
• Prioritisation of remedial works between assets of the same condition.
• Locating & assessing stormwater infrastructure often in heavily vegetated areas.

The project team was able to embrace technology to help meet these challenges, to aid the field data collection, condition assessment and conversion back into the Council corporate systems.