In 2017 the United States experienced one of the worst dam failures in recent history when the Oroville Dam partially split, causing major downstream evacuations and damages. The cause of the problem was unstable bedrock beneath the dam that consequently eroded and structural weakness due to deterioration. Since then the dam has been repaired and strengthened, but it is still somewhat of a … [Read more...]
Angkor – What Ancient Water Infrastructure Can Teach Us Today
The pre-industrial city of Angkor in Southern Cambodia, most famous for the ruins of Angkor Wat today - with its heyday in the 13th century, had a very complex water infrastructure system. The features of this system included and were not limited to man-made lakes as reservoirs, canals, moats, and embankments. The main purposes for this water distribution network were flood control and … [Read more...]
Demand Management – Asset Management Lecture at University of Auckland
"Demand Management" is the second part of Ross Waugh's lecture at the University of Auckland in May 2019. Ross begins his lecture with the thought that he will be sharing information that one can use whether or not they would pursue doing asset management plan. He reviewed some slides he presented in the first part of his lecture, reminding the participants that asset management is more than … [Read more...]
Asset Management Planning Lecture at the University of Auckland
Ross Waugh conducted a lecture on Asset Management Planning and Demand Management at the University of Auckland in May 2019. We divided Ross' lecture into two parts because the video is more than two hours. "Asset Management Planning" is the first part of Ross' lecture. It covers the following subtopics: Disciplines of Asset ManagementGuiding Principles of Road Asset ManagementWhat are … [Read more...]
The Metro Manila Water Crisis and Infrastructure Management Planning
In our previous blog, "Water Shortage in Manila – How Asset Management Planning Helps," we wrote about the water crisis in the east end of Metro Manila. While we have mentioned that the shortage advisories started in early March, the water crisis have been hovering all along. Manila Water, through their Chief Operating Officer Geodino Carpio admitted that while the dry season and El Niño … [Read more...]
Asset Management Career in the Water Infrastructure Sector Pushed
In the USA, many water infrastructure upgrades are going to be needed in the next couple of decades. There is a 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., has recently been thinking through this problem and has held a conference in hopes … [Read more...]
The New York Water Tunnel – Building Better Resilient Infrastructure
Last year, New York City brought a long-overdue water project to completion by the activation of a new drinking water tunnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island. The $250 million-tunnel was delayed when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012. Ironically, disasters such as Sandy are the very reason that this tunnel has been built. In a crisis, this critical backup system can deliver up to 150 million … [Read more...]
Calamitous Natural Events and the Infrastructure Resilience Questions
Harvey and Irma were the two tropical cyclones that battered the US coasts in late August 2017. Both storm systems were classified as major hurricanes. Hurricane Harvey with its 130 mph wind was classified as Category 4, while Hurricane Irma was Category 5 with her winds reaching 185 mph. As Texas was going through the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the people in the Carribean Islands and … [Read more...]
Why ISO 55000 is Important?
When I came across an article on how some organizations are pursuing ISO 55000 for the sake of getting the prestige and using it for marketing purposes, my thought was these organizations are missing a lot. I can see two significant values you are investing on with ISO 55000: You are adding value to your infrastructure assets.You are creating the best asset management practice in your … [Read more...]
Asset Management Perspective on the August 2017 Unsafe Drinking Water Report USA
News21’s investigative report that around 63 million Americans are exposed to unsafe drinking water is making headlines in the USA’s major online news agencies. The report examined the Environmental Protection Agency violations on water quality and monitoring affecting places from California to New York City The USA Today reports: The findings highlight how six decades of industrial … [Read more...]
Strategic Asset Management Planning – Dynamics of Decision-Making
Talking about "Using Uncertainty Theory in Asset Management Planning" Ross explains the advantage of making lots of small decisions. In this post, Ross gives an illustration and discusses further. The other thing is thinking about a car or a boat or something like that. When you’re going in a direction and you want to change direction, it’s easy to do that when you’re moving. If you’re … [Read more...]
Using Uncertainty Theory in Asset Management Planning
So, uncertainty theory. And I know hopefully you’ve been exposed to a little bit of that. If you haven’t, Dr. Henning will be no doubt pleased to point you in the right direction but you can use uncertainty theory and statistics as a planning tool with infrastructure. And it assists in going, so what I’ve just described very briefly there, you go, huh, I don’t know. What’s going to happen? Who … [Read more...]
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