Avoid Emergency Repairs: Manage Your Town’s Assets With GIS
Your town relies on a network of inter-related assets.
The local roads, water and wastewater systems, storm sewer networks, public buildings, parks, trails, and many more essential components help your community run smoothly, improve the quality of life, and even thrive economically. But these assets also experience daily wear and tear, necessitating regular maintenance or, in some cases, complete replacement. As elected officials and government administrators, it is your responsibility to keep the town’s assets in working order within limited budgets and bonding capacities.
Maybe you have a good idea of what condition some of these assets are in, but how do you effectively communicate that knowledge to others? How do you prioritize which assets to spend money on this year versus next? Which asset is closest to failure? How seriously would the failure of each asset impact your community? How much would it cost to repair or replace any given asset?
With an asset management plan (AMP), you can answer all of these questions with confidence, justify how annual budgets are spent, and save money.
Communities with an AMP are often viewed more favorably by state and federal departments that lend and grant money for infrastructure.
C2AE is well-versed in asset management planning, having assisted dozens of municipal governments develop plans of their own, often integrating geographic information system (GIS) technology to implement data collection, entry, and evaluation. We have compiled a list of some of the most important questions and answers surrounding the subject—so that we can demystify the topic of AMPs, debunk myths about their complexity, and prepare town supervisors and boards to talk about them with community leadership.
What is asset management planning?
Municipal asset management planning is the compilation of key information and conditional assessment data of a community’s infrastructure (assets), determining the prioritization and estimated cost of each asset’s maintenance or replacement, and developing a strategic, long-term plan to implement and fund these critical systems.
Imagine a section of water main collapses under a roadway in your town. What would it cost you to repair it immediately? History has shown that emergency repairs cost three to five times more than planned repairs. Additionally, how would the businesses in this area be impacted through the repair process? How would vehicular traffic patterns be disrupted during construction? The collective impact is always much greater than the actual cost of the utility repair.
Now imagine you already knew the water main was nearing the end of its useful life. Because you developed and maintained an AMP, you have already budgeted for a replacement project to take place before a catastrophic failure occurs. In addition, you can improve the roadway at the same time you work on the utility, perhaps relieving traffic congestion or creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment. These types of alterations increase the attractiveness of the thoroughfare to potential new businesses. The investment you made in developing your AMP is quickly returned.
Why should communities be thinking about AMPs right now?
It only makes sense that various federal, state, and local funding agencies in New York and across the country have begun to require or give preference to municipalities that have proper planning in place to ensure that grant or loan dollars will be put to good use. As an example, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) developed a guideline (Municipal Sewage System Asset Management) to assist New York municipalities in developing an AMP to better understand the short- and long-term needs of sewage systems.
Several regulatory agencies across the country have already begun to place AMP requirements in drinking water and clean water permits. While New York has not yet instituted requirements across all permits, communities that have AMPs will be in a better position to respond to the demands.
“Our clients have found that AMPs provide essential background information and often lead to repetitive funding awards because the agencies have an increased level of confidence in the overall direction and long-term success of the municipality’s plan,” says C2AE project manager Ian Yerdon, PE.
Funding agencies also understand the principle of the economic development cycle: place needs business, business needs talent, and talent wants place. In other words, equipping your “place,” or community, with quality infrastructure and amenities that residents need and desire will ultimately attract talent and businesses. Over time, this will result in growth of the local and regional economy.
The advancement of geographic information system (GIS) software over the past couple of years has resulted in simpler and more cost-effective asset management planning, so it is now more advantageous than ever to take advantage of an AMP.
How can GIS take AMPs one step further?
The use of GIS has numerous benefits that touch a wide spectrum of users, from managers and operators of various systems to the residents and visitors that utilize them. These systems can keep track of hundreds of thousands of pieces of data required to effectively deliver the diverse services to town residents. They can assist your town in transferring decades of system knowledge from a seasoned operator ready to retire to a new hire. GIS technology provides the tools to collect, organize, manage, and analyze data about any type of asset with visual simplicity.
By integrating GIS tools into your new or existing AMP, you gain several high-tech features. You can, for example, access your AMP through an interactive application on your smart phone, tablet, or computer. A system operator can access critical equipment manuals while in the field making a repair. In addition, GIS offers digital storytelling maps complete with spatial analytics to serve as a strong visual for any presentation you may deliver to town decision-makers.
Can my town afford to develop an AMP with GIS?
Asset management planning is all about being proactive rather than reactive. Roger Marks, PE, client services leader of C2AE states, “What we’re working to do is collect everything that the client has, in terms of their data about their facilities, and help them put in information about their priority and their condition so any time that something is done, it goes back into the records. Rather than leaving that in one person’s brain, all that’s at their fingertips in a way that’s accessible. Because prioritizing what they’re spending their money on is actually—in the long term—the least cost solution and keeps the entire system in its best condition possible.”
Notably, asset management planning can also be scaled to your community’s needs and resources. While the number of different assets you can track is practically limitless, you can choose to track only specific datasets based on what matters most to your town, such as the location, diameter, and condition of certain pipes. Starting small will lower upfront costs associated with data collection. Later, if you decide to start tracking more information, GIS tools will allow you to scale up efficiently.
How have other communities implemented asset management planning effectively?
Most communities have developed an AMP that utilizes existing county GIS and aerial photography information and expanded it over time, which allows them to allocate a smaller amount of their annual operating budget to fund the effort. Town staff can assist to increase the accuracy and completeness of GIS information using a handheld GPS unit to locate system components and improve the mapping and tracking of each utility or asset. There are multiple other ways a community can leverage their existing resources and current processes to assist in the collection of asset information, which helps reduce the overall cost of the AMP. As an example, communities that own and operate a sanitary sewer system are required to clean a portion of their system every year as part of a maintenance program. During the cleaning process, the sewers can also be televised with a remote camera that will collect the necessary information to assess the condition of each pipe.
A variety of dashboards have been developed to pull information from AMP/GIS databases. These dashboards have proven to be an effective communication tool for municipal leaders interacting with system users and the general public to describe various project needs and how the utility user fees or taxes will help pay for improvements. This engagement of system users early in the project development process is key to gaining buy-in. Often other municipal departments tap into the base AMP/GIS framework to help track other important assets. We have had communities compile asset information on trail systems, tree species, sidewalk conditions, cemetery lot locations, park components, and much more. Smart maps can be developed and displayed easily on a website to help users locate and better understand what assets are present at a particular park, for example.
Would you like to greatly reduce or avoid the high cost of emergency repairs or have a better understanding of what it will take to maintain your town’s assets? The development of an effective AMP can help your community determine which assets are most critical to repair or upgrade over the next 10 to 20 years and identify the required funding sources to achieve success.
