CARE-W was a joint European initiative to develop a framework for water network rehabilitation. The project was supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Development. The aim of CARE-W was to support European water companies in their decisions on upgrading their water supply. The system has been developed for and tested by cities representing all parts of Europe. CARE-W consists of software dealing with fundamental instruments for estimating the current and future condition of water networks, including tools to assess performance indicators (PI), to predict pipe failures (FAIL) and to calculate water supply reliability (REL). Based on the results of these tools, annual rehabilitation projects are selected and ranked (ARP tool). Information of network is further used for the estimation of long-term investments needs (LTP). The tools are operated jointly within the "CARE-W Manager", which also contains facilities for using pipe network databases, geographical information systems (GIS) and input/output routines. The results from using the procedures are presented by reports, in tables and graphically. Aimed at planning engineers, water utilities and municipalities and consultants working in the increasingly growing field of the planning of rehabilitation of water networks in cities.
