Paper Title
Benefit-Cost Analysis on Expanding the City of Montreal’s Noise Loggers Leak Detection Coverage

Abstract
One billion individuals worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water. According to 2016 Canadian Infrastructure Report, Canada’s water and wastewater infrastructures are in a declining state. The average water losses due to leaks in Montreal water network is estimated at 23%. Early leak detection and repair will help in reducing those losses and keeping the water infrastructure sustainable and healthy. Thus, this paper opts at developing a benefit-cost analysis to investigate the potential benefits of expanding the acoustic noise loggers’ coverage over the water network. The framework functions through five models: (1) central database that incorporates the data provided by the city of Montreal and the model assumptions, (2) financial model that computes the capital and operational expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX)of the manual and noise loggers leak detection systems, (3) simulation model that simulates the leaks’ appearance across the network, (4) temporal and financial models that estimates the time and cost differences between the two systems (i.e. repair time and cost, water losses, etc.), and (5) risk model that computes the probability and consequences of breaks for both systems. The outcome of the analysis displayed positive results in favor of expanding the coverage of the noise loggers with huge temporal (40%), number of leaks and breaks (57%), and financial (26%) savings over the study horizon. Even through, it seems to cost more at the first glance, when looking at the CAPEX and OPEX, but they do not highly contribute to the overall cost where; they represent 21% from the overall cost. The developed models support the city in taking informed decision with respect to expanding the acoustic noise loggers’ coverage. Keywords - Benefit-Cost Analysis, Water pipelines, Financial Modelling, Risk Analysis, Leaks and Breaks, Leak Detection, Noise Loggers.