In the USA, many water infrastructure upgrades are going to be needed in the next couple of decades. There is growing concern, however, that with many laborers in this field set to retire soon, there may not be enough people to do the jobs. Brookings Metropolitan Policy Programme, based in Washington D.C., have recently been thinking through this problem and have held a conference in hopes … [Read more...]
Water Utility Planning – Is Deep Uncertainty Analysis A Better Option?
A new scientific society, the Society for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty, is arguing that water managers need to use a different system of analysis for planning ahead. The Society thinks that uncertainty in this time of rapid environmental and social change implies that managers need to consider potential outcomes and the probability of those outcomes occurring. The deep … [Read more...]
Infrastructure Asset Management Impacts of the Electronic Vehicle Disruption in
Tony Seba has published an updated lecture: The Electric Vehicle Disruption - End of Oil 2030 Having attended a lecture by Tony Seba two years ago, I have found his analysis coherent, well-researched, and well worth taking note of. If you are involved in transportation infrastructure management, or you own an internal combustion engine vehicle, then this presentation is well worth your … [Read more...]
Infrastructure Management Discussions eBook Out Now
Here's another eBook you can add to your resource list. DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY NOW In this eBook, Inframanage.com team members, Ross Waugh and Grant Holland discussed the following topics: Why “If I Was Starting Again” as Infrastructure Management Discussion Starter Taking the Right Path to Infrastructure Asset Management Success Tips to a Smooth Infrastructure Asset Management … [Read more...]
More Practical Tips on Infrastructure Asset Inventory
Ross: And coming right back to that slide with the truck and the road you know, you don’t know what you’re trying to answer and where you’re trying to get to, you’ll end up collecting the wrong information in the first place. Now the other thing, I think just advice on the inventory very quickly, is that if - it's started at a high level, get out of there quick. Because this is fast … [Read more...]
Doing Infrastructure Asset Inventory Right the First Time
In the earlier post "Infrastructure Asset Inventory – Lessons from New Zealand Experience", Ross shared the two mistakes they have done in their asset inventory process. He recalled collecting far too much small detail. Discussing further, Grant expressed that having too many details will cause you to be stuck in your inventory work. Grant says: You are going to be there for a long time. … [Read more...]
Infrastructure Asset Inventory – Lessons from New Zealand Experience
Ross: And we’re just going to jump forward to “Inventory”. We really want to talk about that because if you’re starting again, and if you’re starting, then one of the things that you’re going to need to do very very early on the piece, and then continue doing well with good quality is an asset inventory. And we’ve had the full plethora of experience on inventory across New Zealand. We’ve … [Read more...]
A Glimpse of NZ’s Infrastructure Asset Management Journey
Ross: And that’s a journey we still are on in New Zealand. We recently had a change in our legislation that we now have to produce 30–year infrastructure strategies. One of the things that you’ll find as you start. Well, I remember when I started my engineering career, we had annual budgets and the money magically disappeared at the end of the year. So you had to spend it all the year … [Read more...]
Communicating Infrastructure Asset Management to Political Decision-Makers
Ross and Grant continue to talk about the importance of communication in infrastructure asset management, particularly, dealing with political leaders. Ross: Coming back to the subject communication, I think the thing with the political decision-makers, and I have had conversations with colleagues in the US, and Australia and in Africa - one of the comments that I got a few years ago from … [Read more...]
Role of Communication in Infrastructure Asset Management
Discussing life cycle asset management and providing ideas on how to deal with asset maintenance and renewals, Grant and Ross proceeded to talk about the importance of communication. Grant: It requires a bit of communication across the organization that you are working with. So that you know where different parts of your organization, whether it be a water authority or transportation … [Read more...]
Life Cycle Asset Management – Maintaining and Renewing Infrastructure
This post is the continuation of Ross and Grant's discussions in the previous post, "Know the Basic Infrastructure Asset Management Process." Grant continues: So that’s why you might have two processes running at the same time there Ross. Where you've really got the existing assets that you’re maintaining throughout their life cycle, whatever point of the life cycle that may be. And … [Read more...]
Know the Basic Infrastructure Asset Management Process
Ross: It is interesting just stepping out of the African context back into the US one. Back in late April 2014, I was at the TRB asset management conference in Miami and there were a lot of transport, transit system executives and asset managers at that conference because of the federal requirements for asset management for both highways and transit. So I had a number of conversations with … [Read more...]