Asset data segregated in a customized structure and subjected to customized analyses provides Goleta Sanitary District a sound basis for
developing management, budgeting, and communication strategies.
By Sean Pour, Dawn Guendert and Steve Wagner
28 SOURCE fall 2017
RING IN THE NEW:
Data-Driven Decision-Making
GOLETA SANITARY DISTRICT (GSD) has been able to maintain sewer rates lower than the Santa Bar-bara
County average by operating and maintaining its assets in an efficient and cost-effective manner
while delivering required levels of service. However, like many wastewater utilities, it’s facing sig-nificant
capital investment for rehabilitation and/or replacement of its aging infrastructure, much of
it built in the 1950s and 1970s.
In order to assure customers that the
district continues to be managed effi-ciently
and responsibly, the new general
manager made it a priority to develop an
asset management program that would:
1) provide sound information for de-veloping
the district’s annual budget, 2)
ensure that its finances are adequate for
delivery of services, and 3) provide the
means for communicating with the Board
of Directors and the public about its
fiscal requirements.
Like many water and wastewater
agencies, the district used its Geographic
Information System (GIS) as the
repository of data for its collection system
(e.g., pipeline, valves, manholes), assets,
but lacking a computerized maintenance
management system (CMMS) or other
system to centralize data for its facility
assets (e.g., treatment plant and pump
stations), data was scattered among many
documents, in staff members’ heads or was
non-existent. To address these challenges,
a phased data-driven approach was
developed and a proof of concept pilot
project was initiated. The wastewater
treatment plant (WWTP) influent pump
station was selected for the four-month
trial because it included the appropriate
range of mechanical, electrical, and
structural assets for producing a scalable
program that could be expanded to the
entire plant.
Although the project included such
traditional elements of asset management
as data collection, an asset register, and
condition assessment, at its core was a set
of customized analyses designed to in-spire
higher confidence in the timing and
cost of asset failures and provide a tool for
A customized dashboard allows managers to review data at a high level and also “drill” down to source data.
continuously updating asset management
calculations as new data becomes avail-able.
A computerized asset management
model was developed to streamline asset
management calculations and visually
summarize key operational and finan-cial
information in dynamic dashboards
that allows the district to review data at
a high level as well as “drill down” to
source data.
Preliminaries: Desktop Inventory
and Condition Assessment
A centralized database rich in asset
data and segregated into the right struc-ture
provided the foundation for custom-izing
the GSD’s asset management plan.
Key to this step was development of a
hierarchy that allows the district to fil-ter
down to locate each asset and roll up
assets for customized reports. Data from
various sources such as the Electronic
Operations Manual, record drawings,
and staff knowledge was consolidated
into the register. Data examples include
location and limited attribute information
such as size, install year, material, and
manufacturer. Onsite condition assess-ment
that scored assets from “One” (Ex-cellent
Condition) to “Five” (Poor Con-dition)
closed data gaps. The completed
register included 2,296 individual assets
in the entire WWTP. Mobile devices with
electronic data collection forms and con-nected
by WiFi reduced data collection
and quality review time by approximately
25 percent while improving data quality
and consistency.
Customized Analysis
Determining remaining useful life
(the number of years that an asset is ex-pected
to remain functional), operational
criticality, and long-range funding require-