Advancing the Capital Improvement Planning Strategy for Your Utility Webinar

As underground infrastructure rapidly deteriorates, water and wastewater utilities struggle to develop comprehensive, defensible rehabilitation programs that address the most critical infrastructure first.   Although millions of dollars are annually spent under asset management/capital improvement programs, little is achieved to lower total system risk because the programs focus on infrastructure that may not be hydraulically significant to system operation.

This presentation will discuss the components of effective asset management strategies, modern toolsets to assist that utilize existing workflows and datasets, and techniques or tips to create sustainable, resilient programs, such as demonstrated by a real-world example.

Asset management/capital improvement programs are often ineffective in lowering total system risk.  Part of the problem is the technology used to develop the programs, because utilities typically use complex, homegrown spreadsheets and customized databases to justify water asset repair and replacement strategies. 

The challenge with these custom-developed approaches is that they are difficult to maintain and are not defensible or sustainable, they don’t make use of all of the existing datasets available, and they aren’t straightforward enough to easily modify and share results.  Asset management/capital planning practices in use should be assessed, and then small, intermediate steps identified to improve practices and work to long-term, sustainable solutions.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define characteristics and components of an effective asset management system
    
2. Identify opportunities and gaps concerning critical areas of sustainable, resilient pipeline infrastructure management
    
3. Perform a detailed risk assessment and develop a defensible rehabilitation plan
    
4. Discover modern techniques for prioritizing asset rehabilitation and capital plans