Ayres Knowledge Center Infrastructure Asset Management | Page 6

control can increase accidents, injuries, or, worse yet, fatalities. With inflation on the rise, putting off
needed repairs and maintenance work is only going to increase the cost to do that work.
Another consequence of poor infrastructure and delayed maintenance is a rise in resident complaints
and the increased amount of time that staff spend answering calls – taking them away from their daily
duties and responsibilities. In some cases, it can also lead to residents and businesses vacating their
communities and leaving cities and villages in even worse condition. Eventually the costs of high-priority
infrastructure projects could negatively impact a community’s borrowing capacity.
Asset management – by definition, a structured approach to help manage infrastructure to achieve a
desired level of service for the least life-cycle cost – offers a solution to these challenges. It’s a
management paradigm and a body of management practices that is applied to the entire portfolio of
assets. Asset management seeks to minimize the total cost of acquiring, operating, maintaining, or
renewing assets while continually delivering the service levels customers desire and regulators require
at an acceptable level of risk to the community.
How can a community get started? The following seven-step plan will help pave the way.
1. Complete an asset
inventory and collect
related attribute data. Use
various technologies,
equipment, and
methodologies, including
field surveys, aerial images,
feature extraction of asset
locations, aerial and mobile
LiDAR, and unmanned
aerial systems.
Figure 2 - Sample Asset Inventory
2. Conduct a condition
assessment. For each asset type, determine and assign a condition rating. For instance:
o Pavement – Evaluate pavement conditions and assign a condition rating to generate an
overall PCI (pavement condition index) value.
o Sewer – Conduct an evaluation of sanitary sewer systems using the NASSCO (National
Association of Sewer Service Companies) PACP (Pipeline Assessment Certification
Program) rating system.
o Water – Track water main breaks and repairs, monitor valve exercise and hydrant
flushing efforts, and record hydrant flow testing results.
o Stormwater – Model stormwater conveyance systems and prepare stormwater
management plans.
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