Good asset management: A guide
The value of any water authority’s existing infrastructure assets is orders of magnitude greater than the value of any annual capital works programme.
So, to effectively manage a water authority, it is vital that these assets be maintained ‘fit for purpose’ – both structurally and hydraulically.
This means that the value of the assets should not deteriorate and the company, government department or water utility must invest resources to understand the status of these assets and invest in planning, maintenance, replacement and repair.
The largest value of the assets can be found in buried pipes -- water mains and sewers -- and these are the most difficult to investigate and to repair or replace.
The key features of a good asset management strategy are:
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Collection, storage and analysis of good quality data and information;
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Information management systems that allow effective interrogation and analysis of data and information and linkage with support tools (e.g. GIS - geographical information systems) for strategy development;
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Identification of the drivers of performance of the company relevant to the assets (including environmental and economic regulatory as well as business drivers);
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Development of a Decision Making Framework with clear and unambiguous rules, including technical and economic/financial rules, that govern investments and can be used to prioritise both data collection and works programs;
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Implementation that includes investigation, data analysis, maintenance and capital works; and
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Ongoing review and revision of the strategy and programme.
Data collection is central to all good asset management.
Asset owners need accurate record keeping throughout the life of the asset.
Importantly, data should serve a purpose, be accurate, be upgraded regularly and be accessible and in a form for analysis.
Identifying the drivers of asset performance is also a critical success factor.
Owners must ask themselves why assets have to meet particular conditions.
Regulation (economic or environmental) can be a key driver, while customer expectations tend to increase and become a significant driver.
Financial and economic drivers also need to be quantified.
It almost goes without saying that your decision making framework needs to be based on the data collected.
As a starting point, try to identify those assets that are likely to fail – either structurally or hydraulically - and are already known to disrupt water supply or sewerage services.
It is important that you set a basis by which data is collected, understand why it is being collected and how it will be used to influence better asset management strategy development, along with the conditions that trigger action and determine the preferred action.
This will then allow an estimation of the extent of an asset’s remaining useful life to determine when it requires rehabilitation or replacement (structural) or augmentation (hydraulic).
You will also need to know the costs of failure, such as repair and restitution costs including time taken to repair, as well as the economic consequences, including environmental and customer impact costs such as damage due to sewage or water flooding.
This will allow the cost of the consequence of the failure of each asset (considering all economic costs) to be estimated.
This should form the basis of what is generally referred to as a risk matrix of probability and consequence of failure.
The combination of these will allow a risk based prioritisation of assets for inclusion in operational and capital works improvement programs.
The implementation and review stage should include an examination of all non ‘technical’ initiatives.
Effective implementation requires the commitment of planners, asset managers and system operators.
Take the time to measure the effectiveness of your strategic work and actions.
This requires budget and resources, with already well established technologies available to you, such as CCTV, relining and repair.
I firmly believe that there is a need to integrate asset management within any water utility organisation.
For instance, it should play a key role in any non revenue water reduction strategies that may be in play.
It is also vital that the participation of other stakeholders is obtained.
This will ensure that the improvement programs developed can be effectively implemented with optimum stakeholder support.
Asset Management has to grow and receive increasing emphasis and resourcing as systems grow and assets age.
Like most things, a cultural shift in most organisations including commitment at the most senior level is necessary if success in this important area is to be achieved.