On decision-making for sewer replacement

A properly functioning sewer system is important to society, because it provides two essential services: protection of public health and prevention of urban flooding. As such, appropriate management of sewer systems, termed sewer asset management, is required in order to continue their service provision. An important aspect within sewer asset management is decision-making for sewer replacement. The objective of this thesis is to describe the actual decision-making processes and underlying information use in sewer asset management, in order to assess whether variations in information quality influence decision-making outcome. Interviews, a questionnaire and a serious game were applied for data collection, because the actual decision-making processes are not documented. Serious gaming was applied because it allows to study real actors, both individually and in groups, in a custom-built simulation environment.