Damian Staszek

Project: An integrated approach to water resources and investment planning for water utilities under uncertainty

Supervisors: Professors Dragan Savic and Guangtao Fu

Industrial Supervisor: Patric Bulmer, Bristol Water

Project Summary

Water companies in England and Wales employ various Supply-Demand models as decision support tools to identify the optimal combination of the capital investment programs and operational strategies that would be the most cost-effective and would provide the level of service required by customers. This research integrates the water resources planning model with an investment model to deliver a single decision support tool aiming to provide optimal or near-optimal solutions for the Supply Demand Balance Problem under various sources of uncertainty. This project also investigates the impact of uncertainty and the adopted risk approach on decision-making

Biography

  • Higher National Certificate in Water Operations with Supervision and Management, Glasgow Clyde College (2011-2013).
  • MSc in Econometrics from Faculty of IT and Econometrics, University of Lodz, Poland (1999-2004), Specialisation: Econometrics. Dissertation: Usage of Computable General Equilibrium Models for Economy and Ecology Simulation Environmental Protection (2003-2004).

Work Experience

I have been working for Bristol Water since 2006. My current job title is Senior Infrastructure Analyst, previously based in the Change and Regulation Department, currently in the Strategic Assets Management Department. I am responsible for:

  • Providing statistical and econometric analysis used in business plans, annual regulatory submissions and KPIs reports;
  • Building and running models and simulations;
  • Providing sensitivity and uncertainty analysis;
  • Collection and analysis of industry wide data, including econometric modelling;
  • Development of quality assurance process;
  • Participation in the Industry Meetings (Water Statistics User Group and UKWIR)
  • I am on the steering group for two UKWIR projects: o Critical pipes project (with Australian Universities)
  • Improving risk and reliability assessments of networked infrastructure (with Cranfield University)
  • Member of the UKWIR Water Statistics User Group

Research Interests

My PhD project will be in collaboration with Bristol Water: Finding the optimal capital investment and maintenance plan for a water company.

  • Building assets level models (infra and non-infra, M&G) based on the asset deterioration and end of life concept including modelling of low probability and high consequences events;
  • The effect of investment strategy on service level provided;
  • Customers’ role into shaping investment plan, including the effect of willingness to pay values on decision making;
  • Regulator’s role into shaping investment plan, including penalty and rewards concepts in the assets modelling. The impact of 5-years regulatory periods;
  • Optimisation under uncertainty including uncertainty around available data, model errors, uncertainty around WTP values, serviceability impact into penalties and rewards and implications of climate change.