Holistic Assessment of Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Pipe Breaks: The Case Study of Vancouver
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Case Study
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Data Sources of Social Vulnerability
2.3. Data Sources of Environmental Vulnerability
2.4. Data Sources of Economic Vulnerability
2.5. Data Sources for Estimating the Probability of Failure
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Vulnerability
3.1.1. Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
Pearson Correlation Matrix
PCA
- Kaiser’s stopping rule: In this approach, only principal components with eigenvalues greater than one are retained. This approach implies that such components explain more variance than individual variables, therefore reducing the data while retaining significant information [5].
- The scree plot: This graphical method represents the eigenvalue variance on the Y-axis and the PCs on the X-axis. Because the ’elbow point’ represents the optimal number of principal components to retain while balancing explained variance and dimensionality reduction, only the components included in the steep part of the curve are retained in the dataset [16,18,34].
- Cumulative variance plot: This plot shows how much of the total variance in the dataset is included in the analysis. This study considered a threshold of roughly 85% of the total variance to retain an appropriate number of principal components [3,5,18]. The cumulative variance explained for each principal component is calculated by the following formula (Equation (1)) [16,17].
3.1.2. Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI)
3.1.3. Economic Vulnerability Index (ECI)
3.2. Consequences of Failure (COF)
3.3. Probability of Failure (POF)
3.4. Risk Assessment
4. Results
4.1. Results on Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
4.2. Results on Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI)
4.3. Results on Economic Vulnerability Index (ECI)
4.4. Results on Consequence of Failure (COF)
4.5. Results on Probability of Pipe Failure (POF)
4.6. Results on Risk Assessment
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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SVI Indicator | Variable | Previous Studies |
---|---|---|
Sensitive population | Under 5 years | [4,5,10,16,17,18,43] |
5 to 14 years | ||
65 years and over | [4,5,10,16,17,18,34,43] | |
Household/Quality of life/Education | No certificate, diploma, or degree | [16,17] |
Postsecondary certificate, diploma, or degree | [10,14,16,17] | |
No high school diploma or equivalency certificate | [5,15] | |
Renter | [5,14,18,34] | |
One-maintainer household | [14] | |
Between 7 a.m. to 7:59 a.m. | [5,10] | |
Ethnic and Racial Demographics | African American | [6,18,43] |
South Asian | [6,16,17,18,43] | |
Black | [16,17] | |
Chinese | [16,17] | |
Filipino | [16,17] | |
Caucasian (White) | [16,17,18] | |
Total visible minority population | [4,5,7,15] | |
Indigenous identity | [16,17,18] | |
Non-Official languages | [16,17] | |
Socioeconomic Well-being Index | Average total income of household in 2020 ($) | [3,7,14,15,16,17,18] |
Spending 30% or more of income on shelter costs | [16,17] | |
Government transfer (%) | [16,17] | |
Median value of dwellings ($) | [16,17] | |
Average total income in 2020 among recipients ($) | [3,7,14,15,16,17] | |
Unemployed | [6,7,14,15,16,17,34] | |
Female labour force participation | [10,14,16,17] | |
Female employed | [14] | |
Male Not in the labour force | [16,17] | |
All occupations | [16,17] | |
Housing and Mobility Profile | Period of home construction (2000 and before) | [16,17] |
No private vehicle/Public transit | [15,16,17] | |
Movers | [3,15] | |
Average number of rooms per dwelling | [16,17] | |
House with major repair | [16,17] |
Variable | Description |
---|---|
Under 5 years | Children aged under 5 years |
5 to 14 years | Children aged between 5 to 14 |
65 years and over | Population aged 65 and over |
No certificate, diploma, or degree | The population aged 15 years and over in private households without certificate, diploma or degree |
Postsecondary certificate, diploma, or degree | The population aged 15 years and over in private households with postsecondary, certificate, diploma or degree |
No high school diploma or equivalency certificate | The population aged 15 years and over in private households with no high school diploma or equivalency certificate |
Renter | Private households that do not own the property and pay rent to the landlord |
One-maintainer household | Private households where only one person is responsible for maintaining or supporting the household |
Between 7 a.m. to 7:59 a.m. | Time leaving for work for the employed labour force aged 15 years and over |
African American | African American ethnic or cultural origin in private households |
South Asian | South Asian ethnic or cultural origin in private households |
Black | Black ethnic or cultural origin in private households |
Chinese | Chinese ethnic or cultural origin in private households |
Filipino | Filipino ethnic or cultural origin in private households |
Caucasian (White) | Caucasian (White) ethnic or cultural origin in private households |
Total visible minority population | Visible minority for the population in private households |
Indigenous identity | Population in private households affiliated with native communities |
Non-Official languages | Population who conducts a conversation in a language other than English or French |
Average total income of household in 2020 ($) | Average income for private households |
Spending 30% or more of income on shelter costs | Households spending over 30% of their income on shelter costs |
Government transfer (%) | All cash benefits received from federal, provincial, territorial or municipal governments |
Median value of dwellings ($) | Dollar amount expected by the owner if the asset were to be sold |
Average total income in 2020 among recipients ($) | Average total income in 2020 for the population aged 15 years and over |
Unemployed | Includes unemployed persons aged 15 years and over who have never worked for pay or in self-employment |
Female labour force participation | Females aged 15 or above who participate in the labour force |
Female employed | Females aged 15 or above employed |
Male Not in the labour force | Males aged 15 or above not in the labour force |
All occupations | All persons aged 15 years and over in the labour force in all occupations |
Period of home construction (2000 and before) | Private dwellings constructed between 2000 and before |
No private vehicle/Public transit | The main form of transport for employed workers aged 15 and over |
Movers | Persons who have moved from one residence to another within the last year |
Average number of rooms per dwelling | Number of rooms per occupied dwelling |
House with major repair | Occupied private dwellings that need major repairs |
Variable | Principal Component | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PC 1 | PC 2 | PC 3 | PC 4 | PC 5 | PC 6 | PC 7 | PC 8 | PC 9 | PC 10 | PC 11 | PC 12 | PC 13 | PC 14 | PC 15 | |
FE 1 | 0.43 | ||||||||||||||
UE 2 | −0.84 | ||||||||||||||
FTF 3 | −0.96 | ||||||||||||||
AA 4 | 0.97 | ||||||||||||||
AO 5 | −0.43 | 0.40 | |||||||||||||
ATIH 6 | −0.67 | ||||||||||||||
BSS 7 | −0.97 | ||||||||||||||
BL 8 | −0.98 | ||||||||||||||
CA 9 | −0.88 | ||||||||||||||
CH 10 | 0.32 | ||||||||||||||
FI 11 | −0.58 | ||||||||||||||
GT 12 | −0.36 | −0.33 | |||||||||||||
II 13 | −0.45 | 0.40 | |||||||||||||
HMR 14 | −0.45 | 0.32 | 0.35 | ||||||||||||
MVD 15 | −0.84 | ||||||||||||||
MO 16 | |||||||||||||||
NCD 17 | −0.46 | ||||||||||||||
MNL 18* | −0.44 | ||||||||||||||
OMH 19 | 0.53 | ||||||||||||||
PDD 20 | 0.42 | ||||||||||||||
PT 21 | −0.53 | ||||||||||||||
RE 22 | 0.46 | ||||||||||||||
SA 23 | −0.99 | ||||||||||||||
SIS 24 | 0.37 | −0.43 | |||||||||||||
TVMP 25 | 0.32 | ||||||||||||||
UF 26 | −0.98 | ||||||||||||||
ANRD 27 | −0.51 | ||||||||||||||
PHC 28 | −0.63 | ||||||||||||||
SFO 29 | −0.52 |
Risk Rank | Neighbourhood | Pipe Length (m) | AGE | Diameter (mm) | SVI | EVI | ECI | POF (%) | COF | Risk (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | West End | 54.48 | 84 | 1500 | 47.51 | 99.44 | 27.97 | 99.85 | 78.64 | 100 |
2 | Dunbar-Southlands | 38.13 | 92 | 200 | 52.09 | 100 | 0.68 | 100 | 68.69 | 87.48 |
3 | Downtown | 111.79 | 85 | 300 | 47.51 | 99.44 | 3.77 | 99.91 | 67.76 | 86.22 |
4 | Kerrisdale | 120 | 77 | 150 | 52.09 | 100 | 1.51 | 97.65 | 69.06 | 85.88 |
5 | Stanley Park | 120 | 93 | 150 | 47.51 | 99.44 | 1.51 | 100 | 66.75 | 85.01 |
6 | Downtown | 20.19 | 85 | 300 | 47.51 | 99.44 | 0.68 | 99.91 | 66.37 | 84.45 |
7 | West End | 7.74 | 73 | 300 | 47.51 | 99.44 | 0.26 | 93.18 | 66.19 | 78.55 |
8 | Marpole | 63.99 | 93 | 150 | 76.49 | 45.7 | 1.51 | 100 | 55.62 | 70.83 |
9 | Mount Pleasant | 64 | 81 | 300 | 81.67 | 23.42 | 2.16 | 99.42 | 48.22 | 61.05 |
10 | Riley Park | 120 | 96 | 800 | 74.27 | 12.42 | 18.35 | 100 | 47.23 | 60.15 |
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Sinaei, A.; Dziedzic, R.; Creaco, E. Holistic Assessment of Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Pipe Breaks: The Case Study of Vancouver. Water 2025, 17, 252. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020252
Sinaei A, Dziedzic R, Creaco E. Holistic Assessment of Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Pipe Breaks: The Case Study of Vancouver. Water. 2025; 17(2):252. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020252
Chicago/Turabian StyleSinaei, Armine, Rebecca Dziedzic, and Enrico Creaco. 2025. "Holistic Assessment of Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Pipe Breaks: The Case Study of Vancouver" Water 17, no. 2: 252. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020252
APA StyleSinaei, A., Dziedzic, R., & Creaco, E. (2025). Holistic Assessment of Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Pipe Breaks: The Case Study of Vancouver. Water, 17(2), 252. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020252