Data-Driven Transformation: Optimizing Olathe’s Water Network with Rezatec’s Pipeline Risk Solution

Overview

The City of Olathe, located in Kansas, serves approximately 100,000 residents within its water system boundary, while the total city population is around 150,000. The city operates an extensive water distribution network, consisting of over 623miles of transmission and distribution mains. Ensuring the reliability of this infrastructure is acritical priority for the city’s water management team.

Prior to implementing a strategic solution, Olathe faced significant challenges in managing its water mains. The city lacked a data-driven approach to pipeline rehabilitation and instead relied heavily on field staff feedback. There was no validated data to assess historical pipeline performance, identify failure trends, or determine which types of pipes were deteriorating faster. This lack of insight made it difficult to prioritize maintenance efforts and justify funding for infrastructure improvements.

Olathe embarked on a two- to three-year research process to evaluate potential solutions. The city explored various platforms, assessing their data requirements, deliverables, and ability to provide actionable insights. Ultimately, Rezatec’s Pipeline Risk solution stood out due to its ability to analyze historical data and generate predictive insights. A key factor in Olathe’s decision was Rezatec’s approach: rather than simply validating with the city’s data, Rezatec demonstrated its capabilities by deriving missing information from existing records, proving the reliability of the solution.

The implementation process revealed unexpected challenges, particularly concerning data quality. While the solution itself was seamless, the city discovered flaws in its own records. This process became an invaluable opportunity for data validation and improvement. The initiative also helped field crews understand the importance of accurate data collection, as they could see firsthand how improved data quality influenced decision-making.

“It made us look internally at everything we were collecting and why. It also allowed us to use the Rezatec platform to explain to field crews the importance of collecting the right data.” – Sabrina Parker, Water & Sewer Manager, City of Olathe

Olathe’s teams now ensure that incident reports include essential details, such as the cause of pipeline failures, enhancing the effectiveness of the solution.

Rezatec’s Pipeline Risk solution has provided Olathe with tangible benefits, including:

• Improved Decision-Making: The city can now prioritize pipeline replacements based on actual performance data rather than intuition, as well as aligning with known issues in other infrastructure areas.
• Enhanced Efficiency & Integration: Rezatec seamlessly integrates with Olathe’s existing mapping system, enabling city staff to present data in a familiar format for clearer communication with stakeholders. Additionally, Rezatec has incorporated Olathe’s project groups and street data into its delivery platform, allowing for more strategic prioritization by factoring in street condition ratings and other key variables. This streamlined approach enhances decision-making and ensures resources are allocated effectively.

• Proactive Monitoring: Over the past four years, the city has been able to track system deterioration and forecast potential failures.
• Increased Funding: With data-backed justifications, Olathe successfully increased its annual pipeline replacement budget from $1.5 million to $6 million, allowing for more extensive infrastructure improvements. By leveraging predictive analytics, the city can ensure that funds are allocated to replace the correct pipelines at the right time, preventing unnecessary spending on lower-risk areas. This targeted approach not only maximizes the impact of the budget but also enhances long-term network resilience and efficiency.
• Enhanced Data Management: The city has seen consistent results in its data management processes, improving its ability to trend and estimate funding needs.

• Proven Accuracy & Strategic Insights: Rezatec’s model undergoes continuous validation using real-world data, with each iteration incorporating the previous year’s breaks to refine risk assessments. In the most recent validation, 147 breaks were analyzed, with a strong concentration in the highest-risk areas.
  • Notably, over 50% of all breaks occurred within just 150 miles—the highest-risk 25% of pipes—at a break rate of 50 per 100 miles, significantly exceeding the historical average of 20 (2018–2023). In contrast, less than 20% of breaks were found in the lower-risk half of the network (301 miles), where the break rate dropped to just 9 per 100 miles, well below the historical norm.
  • This validation confirms the model’s outputs correctly pinpoint areas that have a greater number of breaks as high risk while demonstrating a large portion of the network remains stabl. These insights enhance leak inspection and planning, enabling Olathe to allocate resources more effectively and proactively mitigate future failures.

“We were able to go from about $1.5 million to $6 million replacement budget based on the data. It allows us to get a bigger stronghold on replacement than we ever had before.” – Sabrina Parker, Water & Sewer Manager, City of Olathe

Looking ahead, Olathe plans to continue leveraging Rezatec’s solution to enhance its proactive maintenance strategy. The city aims to further refine its data collection processes, ensuring even greater accuracy in predicting pipeline failures. Additionally, Olathe is focused on expanding the use of geospatial insights to identify trends and support long-term infrastructure planning. By continuously improving its approach, the city seeks to optimize resource allocation and ensure the resilience of its water distribution network for years to come.

Through its partnership with Rezatec, the City of Olathe has transformed its approach to water pipeline management. By leveraging data-driven insights, the city has moved from reactive maintenance to proactive infrastructure planning. The ability to visualize and predict system failures has not only improved operational efficiency but has also empowered the city to secure necessary funding for sustainable water system improvements.

“When you take a watermain rehabilitation project to our council for money and say, ‘I have four miles of pipeline that are going to be failing in the next four years,’ they tend to be alarmed. But when you pull up the data and show them, it’s very hard to dispute black and white data on where main break failures will happen.” – Sabrina Parker, Water & Sewer Manager, City of Olathe

For other cities considering a similar solution, Sabrina Parker emphasizes the importance of data quality:

“Consider the quality of your input data as it drives the quality of the output. If the data isn’t strong, the results won’t be either. Take the time to ensure your data is accurate before implementing a new system.” says Sabrina.

As Olathe continues to refine its strategy, its commitment to leveraging innovative technology ensures a resilient and reliable water infrastructure for years to come.

To find out more about the City of Olathe click here