Influence of Temperature, Network Diagnostics, and Demographic Factors on Discoloration-Related Customer Reports

Discoloration of drinking water is a common reason for customers to file reports to water companies, but the complexity of the problem makes it difficult to reduce discoloration risk. In this paper, we investigated possible relations between discoloration-related customer reports and temperature, two network design diagnostics, pipe diameter, length, and material, and 14 demographic factors. We analyzed correlations and distributions for a 5-year customer record of a large Dutch water company. Our results demonstrate that the demographic bias in customer service records is small and discoloration reports are more frequent at high temperatures and near small-diameter pipes.