Ross Waugh and Grant Holland held the "If I Was Starting Again" Infrastructure Management Discussion webinar on 16 September 2014. They talked about the challenges and best practices in the industry. Inframanage.com is publishing the transcript through a series of blog posts. After …
Douglas County, Colorado Embraces Renewable Water, Preserves Aquifers
Douglas County, Colorado has relied on water from shallow aquifers that lie beneath the western prairies for generations. This water has been very inexpensive and now is beginning to run dry. The county commission has set itself a new goal, which is to convince residents to stop using the ancient …
Continue Reading about Douglas County, Colorado Embraces Renewable Water, Preserves Aquifers →
Will I Buy a Tesla Model 3 and Why Does It Matter to Infrastructure Asset Management?
A few days ago the American electric car maker Tesla announced details of its Model 3 car, priced from USD $35,000. The Model 3 will also be available in some more countries, including New Zealand where I live. Seating 5 adults, and with a range of 215 miles (346 km) per charge the Model 3 is …
Del Puerto, California May Buy Urban Wastewater As Drought Solution
Farmers in California are struggling to keep their crops irrigated and have turned to a new solution: buying urban wastewater. The Del Puerto Water District in the Central Valley is headed by Anne Hansen, who has definitely jumped on the urban wastewater solution bandwagon. Buying water on the …
Continue Reading about Del Puerto, California May Buy Urban Wastewater As Drought Solution →
Medford, Oregon Comes Up With Creative Solution for Cooling Treated Wastewater
Medford, Oregon, like many other cities, grappled with the problem of treating sewage without harming fish due to the warm water released into the Rogue River by their wastewater treatment plant. The EPA has rules and regulations about water temperature, but in the past, they were difficult or …
Delaware County, Pennsylvania to Reduce Sewage Discharges into River
Recently, it came to the attention of the EPA that the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority (DELCORA) has breached the Clean Water Act with excess sewage overflow due to its combined sewer overflow into the Delaware River and its branches. In order to solve this problem, the …
Continue Reading about Delaware County, Pennsylvania to Reduce Sewage Discharges into River →
Tips to Tracking Assets – Infrastructure Management
“Are there any templates that you are aware of that can serve to track assets, something simple that is already developed which contain headings and indicating the information ones you should track for assets? For example, asset type, location. age, etc.” Heather: Well, we have developed a …
Continue Reading about Tips to Tracking Assets – Infrastructure Management →
Public Utilities Privatization – Study Weighs Pros and Cons
In a paper featured in the American Journal of Political Science, both public and privatized utilities are compared and the results suggest that neither models are the perfect solution. Private utilities often set their rates based on the cost of their investments, which means they can charge …
Continue Reading about Public Utilities Privatization – Study Weighs Pros and Cons →
The Most Important Part of Asset Management
After Ross explained the Simple Infrastructure Asset Management Diagram 3 in the previous post, Heather commented further. She cited that the most important part of asset management is the thinking part. Heather says: Yeah, I think, it’s just another opportunity to bring us back to the idea …
Continue Reading about The Most Important Part of Asset Management →
Explaining the Simple Infrastructure Asset Management Diagram 3
A participant requested to walk them through an example of how to use the Simple Infrastructure Asset Management Diagram 3. Ross explains: Thank you. Look, the walkthrough on the diagram takes about four hours in terms of looking at the detail. Simply and very quickly if we’re looking at …
Continue Reading about Explaining the Simple Infrastructure Asset Management Diagram 3 →
White House Water Conservation Initiative – A Future Demand Case
In Washington D.C. The White House has launched an ambitious effort to convince the private sector that water conservation is a priority investment for the coming year. USA Today reports: "Water is a huge challenge in this country, and I think we all know that, "Interior Secretary Sally Jewell …
Continue Reading about White House Water Conservation Initiative – A Future Demand Case →
Organizing Infrastructure Asset Data into Risk Profile Categories
Still responding to a participant's comment on using digital photography to build up infrastructure asset information, Heather asked Ross whether in New Zealand they are doing a lot with digital photography. Do you see systems using that as part of their record-keeping, she asked? Ross …
Continue Reading about Organizing Infrastructure Asset Data into Risk Profile Categories →