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UTILITY DATA ARCHIVING FOR RISK MANAGEMENT
Citation:
TRENT, T., J. FRECHTLING, AND C. BRAUSCH. UTILITY DATA ARCHIVING FOR RISK MANAGEMENT. Presented at EWRI Conference, Anchorage, AK, May 15 - 20, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
EPA let a contract for a consultant to collect information about historical changes in operations and maintenance, design and construction, and planning and siting for water and wastewater infrastructure. The goal of this research study is to determine risk management alternatives for owners of these utilities with the addition of uncertainty from climate changes. Camp, Dresser, and Mckee (CDM), as awardee for this contract, proposed a reasonable and well-conceived plan to EPA to collect this information from a host of utilities. As CDM mobilized the data collection effort, they quickly realized several difficulties in collecting that data. EPA responded to this dearth of information by altering the question under review to -- can we quantify benefits of archiving data about various phases of infrastructure development and operations? This paper provides case-study evidence of the value maintaining long-term detailed data about utility design, operations and planning. By understanding past practices and the associated costs at a local level, utility owners and operators will be better able to respond to unknown or unforeseeable future events.