Ohio Section AWWA SE District Spring Meeting Deer Creek SP- April 21, 2016

Transcription

1 Ohio Section AWWA SE District Spring Meeting Deer Creek SP- April 21, 2016 Asset Management: Lessons Learned from Small Communities Kurtis Strickland Ohio RCAP Coordinator Wayne Cannon Senior Rural Development Specialist

2 Rural Community Assistance Program A national non-profit organization incorporated in 1972 that provides technical assistance to help solve water and wastewater problems in rural communities Real Community Solutions

3 Ohio RCAP Part of the Great Lakes RCAP Administered by WSOS CAC, Inc. Direct Contract Services Include: Project Development Management & Finance Energy Audits Rate Analysis Asset Management Ohio RCAP is funded by Division of Drinking and Groundwater CMOM Planning Training for Local Officials GIS Data Collection & Mapping Environmental Reports Grant Writing & Administration Community Planning: Land Use, Economic Development, Downtown Revitalization

4 Asset Management / CMOM Projects Since 2012 Yellow Springs (S) 3,487 Columbiana (S) 6,384 Leetonia (W/S) 1,959 Pleasant Valley RSD (S) 5,000 Plymouth (W/S) 1,857 Rutland (W/S) 393 Tuscarawas Co RSD (S) 10,000 Waynesville (W/S) 2,834 Polk (S) 336 EORWA (S) 18,699 Martins Ferry (W/S) 6,915 Bellaire (S) 2,478 Bridgeport (S) 1,831 Brookside (S) 632 Sebring (W) 4,420 Wintersville (W) 3,924 Cleves (W) 3,234 Jackson Co Water Co (W) 15,000 Ohio RCAP has assisted with asset management planning for 18 utilities since Planning efforts are in various stages of completion.

5 Phase I Office Review Administrative Management (Rules / Regulations) Asset Inventory (Varying levels of detail) Optional: GPS Data Collection / GIS Mapping Problem Identification Documenting Construction and Maintenance History (Known problems areas) Optional: Operational Review by Staff Engineer and Licensed Operator (Historical vs. Best Practices) During Phase 1 we try to learn as much as we can about the utility from existing records and management reports.

6 Phase 2 - Field Investigations Initial Condition Assessments (Sweat Equity) Creating Asset Attributes Tables for CMMS and GIS software Identify Performance Benchmarks / Best Practices Budget for Improved Maintenance (Staffing / Money) CMMS Software setup for Preventative Maintenance, Predictive Monitoring and Escrow Transfers. Phase 2 is focused on condition assessments based upon field conditions. Utility staff needs to be trained on performance standards for field investigations. During this time we will also begin to discuss maintenance practices to overcome commonly identified problems.

7 Phase 3 Report Preparation Capital Improvement Plan to address Deferred Maintenance (Utilities with serious capacity problems were referred for engineering assistance) Rate Analysis (Affordable / Sustainable Rate) Accounting changes to safeguard savings for working capital and capital improvements Public Meeting to discuss Asset Management / CMOM Plan results and funding requirements The final phase involves report generation, capital improvement planning, budgeting and rate analysis. The last step is a public meeting to discuss asset management report findings.

8 Level of Service Goals 1. Improve regulatory compliance (When necessary) 2. Improve preventive maintenance 3. Establish a predictive maintenance escrow 4. Develop an asset replacement strategy 5. Sustainable utility rate The above steps are necessary to establish an asset management philosophy within the organization. Specific level of service goals can be incorporated later.

9 Who Is Ready for Asset Management? Systems with compliance issues or under enforcement. Systems undergoing management changes. Existing managers who are nearing retirement and want to pass down better information. New managers trying to figure things out. Communities investing in capital improvements Projects do not address their underlying problem. Readily available (affordable) financing Utility managers / administrators who understand the importance of planning for the future.

10 Lessons Learned- The Team Asset management plans are labor intensive. The community must agree to invest the necessary time as well as money. Asset management has a lot of moving parts. A team effort is needed. Operator buy-in is critical. Operators are the local expert. Someone has to perform necessary maintenance. Every team member is important. Where was the operator during the planning meetings?

11 Lessons Learned- Underground Most utilities do a reasonably good job with treatment, pumping and storage thanks to strong leadership from the regulatory agencies. Underground assets bear the burden of deferred maintenance and neglect. (Both Water Distribution and Sewer Collection) Need to pay more attention to water loss and clear water intrusion. Little problems fester into bigger problems. Fifteen percent water loss means that you operate the treatment plant for 55 days to produce non-revenue water. Utilities routinely treat 2X the amount of wastewater billed.

12 Lessons Learned- GIS GIS mapping increases the cost but makes asset inventory easy. Quality GIS mapping simplifies data collection, organization, and analysis. GIS is more than GPS locations on a map. Line segments must be accurately connected. Each asset should be assigned a unique identifier or name. Asset (ID) names are necessary to link databases and manage attribute information. Maps are effective tools for storing and communicating information.

13 Lessons Learned- Condition Field verification of asset condition and performance benchmarking increases the cost but validates data. Requires a lot of time. Focus condition assessments on oldest assets or problem areas. Use a sampling of assets for condition assessments. Owner commitments for (Sweat Equity) condition assessments have proved difficult to achieve.

14 Lessons Learned- Staffing Many utilities are understaffed and poorly equipped. Particularly for complicated preventative maintenance tasks. Operators struggle to complete condition assessments even with proper training with spirited efforts. Emergencies take priority! Maintenance budget, staffing and training are an obstacles for utilities of every size.

15 Lessons Learned- Shared Services Jobs that require specialized equipment and training are beyond the ability of many communities. Some tasks will need to be outsourced to larger utilities or acquired commercially. Implementation of asset management will be difficult for small communities without shared service agreements. They simply cannot afford the equipment and expertise on their own.

16 Lessons Learned- Coordination Street department staff view underground infrastructure differently. Condition is not a problem until there is a danger of collapse. Often times the utility operator has very little say in maintenance of the distribution / collection system where there is a departmental separation of duties. Willing participation by ALL departments is necessary to make asset management worthwhile.

17 Lessons Learned- BMPs More research and training is needed on Best Practices for the management and maintenance of aging infrastructure. Simplified condition assessment and monitoring procedures which can be done by an operator with appropriate assistance. Massive asset replacement is unaffordable. Communities will need to extend useful life using the most effective and lowest cost techniques. Best management practices are particularly important for water distribution and wastewater collection since no owner s manual exist for these assets.

18 Lessons Learned- Documentation Condition inspection and performance monitoring must become an ongoing maintenance activity. Several years will be needed to inspect all of the assets in most communities. Utilities need to do a better job of documenting the location and cause of asset failure. How do soil conditions, construction quality, type of material and past maintenance practices impact the preferred renovation method and resulting useful life? GIS mapping and CMMS work order system are essential to the collection, storage and management of this information. Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them. George Santayana

19 Lessons Learned- Private Property Approximately half of the water and wastewater pipe is located on private property with very little oversight or no maintenance. Illegal and defective plumbing on customer owned pipelines are responsible for 60 to 80% of clear water intrusion and water losses. Privately owned pipe is generally in poorer condition than the public infrastructure to which it is connected. Service lines are smaller diameter with shallow installation making their renovation and /or replacement relatively inexpensive. Enforcement can get ugly. Obtain political support before you start. Reminder: A vote against enforcement is a vote in favor of higher utility rates which will be needed to pay for capacity upgrades.

20 Lessons Learned- $$$$$ Rate increase are necessary to pay for improved maintenance and escrow accounts. Decision makers must be involved! Commitments are politically easier on the heals of a major capital improvement. Rates are going up anyway! You can t squeeze blood out of a turnip. Eventually someone will pay for mistakes of the past!

21 Lessons Learned- Management Quick fixes are become prohibitively expensive. Massive replacement project are often unaffordable. Capital replacement projects do not always solve the problem. Utilities should focus on sustaining systems not developing projects. Renovation activities should be scheduled from the results of performance monitoring activities. Community leaders must be trained to devote more time and attention toward building stakeholder buy-in. Management is the Key to Success

22 Lessons Learned- CMMS CMMS work order software is necessary for successful no matter the size of the utility system. There are many software options from simple Excel spreadsheets to web-based work order scheduling to expensive total utility management software. Utilities should select CMMS software based on their level of expertise. Data is more important than the software platform. CUPSS is not the long-term solution.

23 Lessons Learned- Summary Big project solutions are expensive. Improve management first! No two utility are the same. Address local conditions and needs. Start with rules, regulations, policies and procedures. Review enforceability of private property regulations! Budget for improved maintenance. Evaluate staffing needs. (Consider shared service agreements) Everything comes down to money. Rates are a critical component. Rates will need to go up!!! Something is better than nothing. Strive for progress not perfection. CMMS software and effective mapping are essential. Asset management works! It is worth the investment time, effort and money.

24 Your Asset Management Action Plan The Asset Management Plan is a working document. Revisions will be necessary to reflect improvements in the quantity and quality of available information.

25 Questions? Kurtis Strickland (740) Wayne Cannon (937)