AWWA ACE62990

Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) are at the forefront of Asset Management for water utilities. This is primarily due to the fact of privatization of water utilities in the UK. The UK is currently in the third generation of the Asset Management procedures and has well defined methods for identifying and managing assets. In the United Kingdom (UK), large scale Asset Management has been practiced for approximately 20 years when computer modeling and pipe inspection techniques allowed the current performance and impact of potential improvements to water or sewerage networks to be evaluated for whole systems. In the United States (US), it is a different story. There are a number of forms that Asset Management takes in the US including SSES Programs, Infiltration / Reduction Programs, Capital Improvement Programs and CMOM, flow monitoring, SCADA Systems, etc., but very few public utility infrastructure owners have a true Asset Management Program in place. Furthermore, Risk Assessment as used in the UK is now only beginning to be understood and used in the US. The Risk Assessment in the US is done in terms of Criticality of the system components and the effects it will have on the users and public in general should the component of the system go off line. In the US, Risk Assessment is generally not used for investment decisions when it comes to Capital Improvement Programs, but is beginning to be used in the Operations and Maintenance of the systems. This paper reviews Asset Management practices in the United States and in the UK, and compares the two sets of practices. The review also identifies key business and technical practices, how Asset Management is perceived by the owners on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and will identify lessons learned from the UK for the North American utility infrastructure owners and engineers. Includes 21 references, tables, figures.