AWWA INF52147

Over the last 100 to 150 years, society has developed a sophisticated infrastructure providing heat, light, water, sanitation and more recently, telecommunications to its citizens. Unfortunately, much of this infrastructure is now approaching the end of its useful life and future generations will be faced with the cost of replacing these physical assets which are the foundation of today's society. To date, most advances in quality have been achieved at marginal cost. The fundamental infrastructure has been in place for many years, and all that is required is to add further complexity or extra treatment processes in order to achieve significantly enhanced quality. Future generations will be faced with a stark choice: can they afford to continue to improve quality at this rate as well as sustain the replacement of the existing infrastructure or will they have to modify their aspirations because the economic burden of maintaining even the existing infrastructure will stretch their resources to the limit. It is clear that the Water Industry has a significantly higher level of capital intensity than any other industry. The replacement value of this fixed asset base is very high and yet it is certain that replacement will be necessary as time takes its toll and assets wear out. Many municipalities and utility owners are now beginning to realize that they need to concentrate their efforts on optimizing the replacement cycle of these assets in order to provide maximum financial leverage for the future. Water utilities and municipalities, therefore, now have to develop a strategy which maximizes the useful life of their existing assets and also allows them to prioritize the asset renewal on a uniform basis. This paper discusses the various elements of such a strategy including asset serviceability and advanced maintenance techniques. Includes figures.