Introduction to K-water’s Research and Development Strategy for Advanced Water Pipe Network System Inspection, Monitoring, and Assessment Technology

K-water (or Korea Water Resources Cooperation) is the governmental agency for comprehensive water resources development and providing both public and industrial water in South Korea. K-water manages large diameter water pipelines of 5,247 km. It is most important for managing the pipelines to maintain water supply service without significant disruption through an installation of back-up pipeline, rehabilitation of aged pipelines, and creation of emergency pipeline. For establishing a reasonable prevention plan, structural monitoring and inspection technology is necessary for proactively detect defects before actual failure occurs. This research is introduced the current technology and R&D strategy for the large diameter water pipe inspection, assessment, and monitoring based on a review and evaluation of advanced technologies used in gas, petroleum, and nuclear power plant.