Aligning Asset Management and Process Strategies at Wastewater Treatment Plants

Aging infrastructure and evolving regulations have made planning capital projects and equipment replacement more difficult at wastewater treatment plants. Decisions on when and how to replace or rehabilitate assets are complex and consider many factors. This paper discusses the development and implementation of an asset management and capital planning program at the Broward County North Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (NRWWTP). The two primary objectives of asset management and capital planning at the NRWWTP were to assess the condition of approximately 1,200 plant assets in a standardized manner; and to develop a plant-wide prioritized list and schedule of assets for R/R. Results identified a very small number of high risk assets, which were then scheduled to be addressed in the immediate and terms. Thus, implementing asset management and capital planning validated existing capital improvement plans at the NRWWTP and successfully identified the small number of needs that were not already addressed.