Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Assets

General Information

Water, wastewater, and stormwater systems are essential infrastructure critical to public health and for economic development and growth. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has reported the water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure improvements needs of the nation and for individual states. This report, ASCE 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, quantifies the gap between needed infrastructure assets improvements and historical investment rates.

Nassau Bay's Needs

The City of Nassau Bay is addressing its infrastructure renewal needs with implementation of a comprehensive infrastructure asset life-cycle management approach. This management approach utilizes a Geographic Information System (GIS) and  relational databases to provide information for decisions on the timing and extent of assets renewal.

This management approach optimizes the ongoing operation and maintenance of infrastructure assets with planned renewal or replacement of the assets. The objective is to renew infrastructure prior to catastrophic failure without renewing too early which can be inefficient - resulting in the most cost effective asset management.

Critical Elements

Critical elements of the City of Nassau Bay’s infrastructure asset management approach are:

• Ongoing inspection to determine assets condition and operability
• Ongoing maintenance of underground piping systems and of equipment
• Scheduling asset renewal by a prioritization system and program

This systematic approach to infrastructure assets management will assist in providing customers with quality water utility services at reasonable user rates.

Additional Information

More information related to needs of municipal water, wastewater, and storm water systems management can be obtained from the documentary Liquid Assets, prepared by Penn State University, which addresses the challenges faced by municipalities in cost-effectively maintaining infrastructure assets.