IPWEA NAMS.AU and asset management consultancy Cardno have jointly developed Guidelines for Condition and Performance Assessment for Water and Sewerage.
Scheduled for release in October/November 2013, the Guidelines bring together contemporary practices into a national approach, and encourage consistency of data collection and outputs.
Understanding the condition and performance of the asset portfolio is fundamental to developing appropriate asset management strategies. These Guidelines provide a basis for assessing the condition and performance of water and sewerage assets to determine the whole-of-life cost impacts. They are relevant for large and small utilities, and consider core and advanced approaches.
The Guidelines adopt a risk management approach, which assesses a network of water and sewerage assets, and recommends appropriate actions for maintenance and longer-term remedial works. The Guidelines access to a valuable, east-to-use spreadsheet toolkit. The toolkit allows a WS&S Utility to select the priority and timing of renewals based on the condition and consequence of failure of the assets. The tool also includes some generic deterioration curves that can be adjusted by a WS&S Utility.
IPWEA has partnered with Cardno on this initiative, a leading asset management consultancy and an enthusiastic supporter of knowledge-transfer initiatives. Since the formation of its specialist asset management business some 20 years ago, Cardno has provided asset management services to government, regulators, utility owners and operators, and private-sector contractors. Cardno has delivered asset management projects across Australia, in the USA, Middle East and Malaysia.
Training about the guidlines will be implemented by IPWEA in the new year and will complement their existing asset management training that focuses on condition assessment of stormwater drainage and buildings.