Ross explains: I sure am. Because the thing from New Zealand we have that big earthquake in Christchurch about four years ago. And the conversations changed as a result of that from redundancy to resilience. Evaluating and managing resiliency Because you can have redundancy and still not be resilient. Because we lost in Christchurch and some surrounding areas we lost whole pump stations … [Read more...]
Infrastructure Asset Management – How Asset Redundancy Affects Risk Readings?
Heather answers: Well, certainly redundancy has a big part of the criticality. And there’s a couple of different ways you can do it, depending on how complex or how simple you want it to be. The simplest way would be to have the probability of failure reading times the consequence of failure reading equals your risk. And include redundancy in your consequence of failure reading, cut that … [Read more...]
Infrastructure Asset Management – CMOM and Cyber Security
In this post, Ross answers "How can we best integrate CMOM (Capacity, Management, Operations, and Maintenance) into both asset management and fiscal sustainability plan?" He also shared briefly his thoughts on cybersecurity application in infrastructure asset management. Capacity, Management, Operations and Maintenance Ross said that clearly, what you’re talking about there is a part of the … [Read more...]
Managing Security Risks in Asset Management
“Can you talk about asset management as a part of your operating security system? How much security is enough in today’s risk management world?” Heather answers: I am assuming they’re talking about the security in terms of security of tanks from people breaking into the fence or you know security from that standpoint of people doing bad things to your water utility. Someone maybe is … [Read more...]
New Mexico Tribes Benefit from Tribal Infrastructure Act
Ten years ago, the government of New Mexico realized that the tribal communities of the State had little to no access to basic modern water and energy systems. In response, former Gov. Bill Richardson signed the Tribal Infrastructure Act into law. The law requires that the state allocate five percent of its estimated oil and gas severance tax, usually ranging from between 9 and 16 million … [Read more...]
Michigan’s 30-Year Water Management Strategy Includes Infrastructure Management Planning
In Lansing, Michigan, a much-awaited planning document designed to direct Michigan's water usage and management policies for the next 30 years have been released in draft form. It is a 160-page report that outlines dozens of recommendations for protecting and improving the water management of the state. The state Office of the Great Lakes developed the report. Included in this outline is … [Read more...]
Infrastructure Implications of California’s Water Reduction
There has been a lot of talk in the last couple of weeks about the Governor of California’s water restrictions. He is calling for mandatory 25% reductions in potable water usage in urban areas. There are many issues to work out regarding how these reductions will be implemented across the state, but thus far most of the talk seems to be centered around how the reductions will be imposed, i.e., … [Read more...]
Annual “America’s Water” Conference Addresses Water Utility Infrastructure Management Challenges
Last week, more than 90 experts from different areas of expertise ranging from industry to non-profit agencies converged at Colombia University, New York to discuss crises and opportunities and to develop a future plan for collaboration. This new initiative titled "America's Water" aims to build a network of experts across many sectors in order to develop research that will inform water … [Read more...]
Water Scheme and Future Demand Management May Conquer Drought in Utah and Western States
Drought across the Midwest is continuing to raise concerns over water scarcity and having the supply to meet future demand. In spite of this, some groups believe that finding the right price point for water customers will be the key. At a conference for water utility finance managers held in Park City, Utah on Friday, officials from Utah, Colorado, and elsewhere in the West discussed how … [Read more...]
Controversy Surrounds O’Fallon, IL as They Prepare to Lease their Water Utility
The mayor of O'Fallon, Illinois says that leasing the city's water and wastewater systems to a private company would generate $50 million that could pay for citywide improvements. The issue of water is the hot topic on O'Fallon's April 7 election ballot. Three companies are going head to head for the leasing rights and all have agreed to a lump sum of $50 million, but public opinion will … [Read more...]
Role of Preventative Maintenance in Water Utilities Asset Management
In the previous post titled "Best Asset Management Practice — Improving Preventive Maintenance", Ross shared his insights from his consulting experiences in New Zealand. Heather continued the discussion. Heather: I would just mention that one of the things to think about with your system when you get into preventative maintenance is you can start watching over time how preventative … [Read more...]
California Improves Infrastructure Asset Management to Handle Drought
The State of California is about to invest a very large amount in its water infrastructure assets. Drought is a recurring problem in the region and the State is looking ahead to manage Stormwater more effectively in years to come. The funds will go towards new reservoirs, underground storage, and proposals to clean up dirty aquifers amongst other things. Circle of Blue reports … [Read more...]
