An Engineering Management Approach in the Maintenance of the Pipeline System of a Local Water District: Basis for a Procedures Manual

Water is one the most critical resources for human survival. For people to achieve the universal human right to "a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family" (Article 25, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, p. 74), every household needs to have safe potable drinking water. The purpose of the research is to utilize engineering management approach in the maintenance of the water pipeline system of a local water district through relentless focus on the objectives and the prudent us of resources, methods and people working together to attain the quality goals. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the problems raised by the concessionaires vis-à-vis the maintenance works performed by the local water district personnel to assure the delivery of safe potable drinking water through the water pipeline system as well as the perceptions of both the concessionaires and the maintenance personnel on the upkeep of the pipeline system of a local water district. Using 400 concessionaires and 62 maintenance personnel of a water district, survey questionnaires were fielded and retrieved to collect the needed data for the study. Frequency, percentage, weighted mean, ranking and t-test were used to treat the data. It was found out that the maintenance personnel had a high school education, in the rank and file and had five years of service in the local water district. Most of the concessionaires were served by the district for almost 25 years whose five top complaints regarding the water pipeline system were non-availability of water supply, leaking pipes, meter clogging, and leaks before and after the water meter and low pressure. Based on the perceptions of the concessionaires, the maintenance personnel accommodated their complaints within five minutes, took one day after reporting to address the complaint reported, two field personnel were needed to repair the complaint and hand tools were used in repairing the pipeline using permanent and temporary methods. T-test was used to determine the significant difference. The computed t-values for the objectives, people, organizational setting, methods, resources and management were greater than the t-values in the table. Thus, the perception of the employees and concessionaires on the maintenance personnel regarding the maintenance of the water pipeline system of the local water district showed a significant difference. The study recommended a systematic quarterly evaluation of the work of the personnel of the maintenance division, strengthen the skills and competencies of the employees, improve the public image, provide comprehensive action plans, address other perennial problems not mentioned in this study with proper documentation and adopt the proposed standard procedures manual for the maintenance of the water pipeline system.