Introduction to Water Infrastructure Asset Management - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 149

find it worthwhile to invest in a detailed asset
management system or other expensive technology. However, they should still have
a renewal plan for their assets. In Alberta the Municipal Infrastructure Management
System (Alberta Transportation 2005 ) is available to assist small municipalities in
tracking their inventory. The information can be used for forecasting, budgeting,
and funding allocations.
An asset management plan needs to be monitored to ensure that service
objectives are met over the long run. Monitoring can also ensure that the munici-
pality is being managed ef

Small municipalities may not

ciently. Technical reports can indicate the number of
failures and be used to evaluate the performance of the system. Financial reports
can be used to evaluate its ef ciency. Unplanned spending should be tracked and

should indicate a decrease upon implementation of an asset management plan. Total
spending should also be tracked for each activity. The utilization of the benchmarks
to compare the municipality to others can help determine areas of improvement.

7.1.2 Case Study 1, Capital Regional District of British
Columbia

The Capital Regional District (CRD) of British Columbia provides water services
for 13 communities on Vancouver Island. The CRD acts as both a wholesaler and
retailer. Residents of smaller communities purchase their water directly from the
CRD and all residents are metered. In larger cities the CRD sells the water to the
city, which resells it to the residents. The CRD meters all water being sold to these
cities. However, the cities do not always meter the water sold to residents.
The distribution network of pipes consists of 340 km of pipes up to 2.3 m in
diameter. The primary water source has a capacity of 92.7 million m 3 . The sec-
ondary source has a capacity of 10 million m 3 . There are also two reservoirs for
treated water that have a combined capacity of 50,000 m 3 . Daily demand in the
region varies from 114,000 to 318,000 m 3 of water. There are two treatment plants
utilizing UV light and small amounts of chlorine. Residual treatment is accom-
plished by adding ammonia to the water.
Prior to the mid 1990s, asset replacement was primarily reactive, i.e. infra-
structure items were only replaced after a breakage or failure. Their asset man-
agement plan was implemented in 1999 and the CRD now schedules renewal prior
to failure. Its decision-making algorithm is displayed in Fig. 7.1 .
This algorithm works through a series of questions to determine the appropriate
life of an asset. Each asset is assigned a base life. The questions identify potential
weaknesses in the asset. Upon identi

cation of the weaknesses, the base life of the

asset is adjusted to re ect the appropriate life.

The Asset Management Division is responsible for ensuring that aging assets are
replaced prior to failure and that the infrastructure is appropriate for the district.