Infrastructure asset managers ensure that assets and infrastructure, which represents a deal of investment both in time and money, continue to meet a required level of service in the most cost-effective way for present and future customers. Achieving this involves several elements and many steps (NAMS, 2018).
Extreme Events in Australia
Australia has experienced record disasters in just the last couple of years. For example, the 2019 -20 Australian bushfire season, dubbed as the black summer, was unprecedented in many ways and was linked to arid conditions.
The fires burned over 17 million hectares, killed 33 people, destroyed 3,094 houses, and affected nearly “hundreds of billions” of animals, including insects (Parliament of Australia, 2020).
The following year, beginning on 18 March 2021, extreme rainfall on Australia’s east coast led to widespread flooding in New South Wales, the region’s worst flooding in six decades, according to the Earth observatory.
Actions by Asset Managers
With the succession of extreme natural disasters threatening infrastructure, what actions can asset managers do to increase infrastructure resilience to ensure that it can withstand future disasters?
Insite interviewed two asset managers from NSW councils on their take regarding the recent disasters that struck Australia, the resulting damage and destruction to infrastructure and private properties, and the actions taken by the two councils to ensure that critical infrastructure continues to serve the community.
James Thomson, Cadet Engineer from Eurobodalla Shire Council, says that the recent bushfires have burned 90% of their local government area and damaged many of their bridges. He said that drought and water supply are also a problem for them.
Immediately after the fires, the council built side-tracks for damaged bridges to prepare for the autumn rainy season. Many of them were destroyed by a succession of 3 floods and needed repeated repairs.
Since the calamities, the council has made community safety a priority and made every effort to increase the resilience of their critical infrastructure, according to Thomson.
Thomson also mentioned other resilience-building projects that councils plan to do, such as: replacing their timber bridges with composite structures, establishing a dedicated operations facility where stakeholders can meet and organize a quick response to disasters, liaising with communication and power providers about improving infrastructure resilience, and also making sure that back up generators are available to the public in case of power system failure.
Thomson shared the pre-emptive measures taken by the council by clearing vegetation around a communication tower before bushfires which prevented damage to the infrastructure, which would have been too costly and time consuming to repair otherwise.
He said that the council is also building a new dam to improve the resilience of their water supply in anticipation of future droughts. Thomson adds that another component of enhancing infrastructure resilience is “to know and understand the assets in our network. This allows the council to accurately identify how best to apply finite funding to improve the resilience of our infrastructure overall, thus creating the best outcome for the community.”
Megan Finnie, Manager of Asset Strategy, Planning and Performance of Northern Beaches Council, says that the heavy rains in Sydney were a test for any councils. Like other local governments, they have a system in place to prepare for heavy rains.
However, with more of these events projected in the future, councils need to have long term plans to build infrastructure resilience to mitigate damages. Finnie says that to keep road service and operation 24/7, the council can choose between raising the levels of roads or keeping them the same height but building with climate-resilient materials. Either way, funds will be coming from taxpayers money and will be an important conversation to have with the community.
Finnie also adds that the modelling tools will help councils identify vulnerable areas to climate-related events and help them make better decision to renew, replace, or in some cases, project into the future to decide whether to build in new and safer areas.
Implementing asset management has never been more crucial in modern society today. Infrastructure is the foundation of modern society and supports our social, economic, and recreational activities.
Yet, we seldom think about our roads, bridges, or power system until our daily routines and tasks are disrupted due to infrastructure failure.
Another critical feature of infrastructure is its inter-dependency, which means that a disruption in one part or network can affect another.
With climate change increasing the frequency and severity of natural events, implementing asset management can help prepare infrastructure and mitigate damages from present and future threats. It can also inform when and where infrastructure resilience-building is needed.
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