Water Innovations gives Water and Wastewater Engineers and end-users a venue to find project solutions and source valuable product information. We aim to educate the engineering and operations community on important issues and trends.
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By Celine Hyer D one right, asset management delivers savings, risk reductions, and efficiency. But getting there involves important trade-offs and decisions with serious financial and service implications. We will explore ways that utilities can identify the most critical and vulnerable risk points, even in enormous and complex systems, and use this information to tackle rehabilitation and replacement while making a solid case for funding. Given the substantial effort and cost of renewing sewer conveyance systems, especially those nearing the end of their economic and service lives, it helps to be able to make the case that any investment should have maximum effect. Therefore, every program should start by determining the best approach for everything, from overall asset management to risk-based pipe replacement. Reframing The Approach To Asset Management Effective asset management is crucial to ensuring the right work is done at the right time. Using outdated or incorrect approaches can result in underperformance and loss. Fortunately, we are in the midst of an asset management revolution, opening avenues to improved planning, budgeting, and efficiency. No longer solely a technical discipline primarily driven by the need to improve capital investment forecasting, today's business-driven mindset considers the entire asset life cycle, inherently transforming the way utilities operate. In fact, utilities that can break the functional silos can create a plan that is truly sustainable, now and across the life of the whole water or wastewater system. But getting such an enterprising program off the ground starts with single steps. It helps to identify first the elements of the program that can jumpstart the desired changes, while recognizing that the data required to fully realize the benefits may not be available right away. Taken from the Arcadis paper "Improving the Current State of Water and Wastewater Buried Infrastructure for a More Sustainable Future," the following list of five critical elements of a successful asset management program can help anticipate and overcome the inevitable challenges. Expert Resource: The Virginia Tech Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) Center — Blacksburg, VA The SWIM Center was created to help utilities build asset management programs rooted in research, innovation, and practicality, with access to a network of expert professionals. Knowledge centers like the SWIM Center have been proven to provide a foundation of needed industry data, training, and best practices to advance asset management programs. Tapping into the SWIM Center lets utilities create and share infrastructure data, tools, and cases to set asset management programs in a positive direction. It also offers the most comprehensive source of water infrastructure asset management information and innovative research available through the PIPEiD and WATERiD national databases, conferences, workshops, training courses, publications and reports, and SWIMeD online certification programs. However important, these are foundational activities for the main event: assessment and risk analysis for rehabilitation and replacement planning. Sewer Pipe Condition Assessment For Rehabilitation And Replacement Planning – New Castle County, DE Arcadis developed an asset management program to identify the nature, extent, and sources of infiltration and inflow (I/I), cross- connections, and structural failures for New Castle County, DE. This provided valuable information to set priorities and 28 wateronline.com n Water Innovations Identifying Risks For Sewer Conveyance Asset Management If risk analysis isn't in the pipeline, your asset management plan needs updating. Arcadis shares best practices to launch or update your program.