这个AWWARF项目的目的是为水分配系统制定一个10年的研究议程。研究咨询委员会（RAC）和AWWARF董事会一直认为，配水系统在提供高质量饮用水方面非常重要；然而，这一关键领域的研究有时没有重点，有时甚至陷入困境。问题的一部分在于，供水系统的运营商通常不是研究人员，他们往往很难从开展研究中看到任何好处。项目团队（经济与工程服务有限公司、韦斯顿有限公司和通用水务公司）通过以下方式进行了这项研究:从公用事业公司和AWWA数据库收集配电系统信息；确定分销系统中的问题并确定其优先级； 确定哪些问题可以通过研究解决；以及为供水系统制定10年的研究议程。

The purpose of this AWWARF project was to develop a 10-year Research Agenda for Water Distribution Systems. The Research Advisory Council (RAC) and the AWWARF Board of Trustees have always believed that water distribution systems were very important in the supply of high quality drinking water; however, research in this critical area has sometimes been without focus and has at times floundered. Part of the problem has been that operators of water distribution systems are not normally researchers and often times they have difficulty seeing any benefit from conducting research. The project team (Economic and Engineering Services, Inc., Weston, Ltd., and General Waterworks Corporation) approached this study by: collecting information on distribution systems from utilities and from AWWA databases; identifying and prioritizing problems in distribution systems; determining which problems could be addressed by research; and developing a 10-year research agenda for water distribution systems.