Performing A Desktop Analysis To Justify Funding A Sustainable Sewer Asset Management Program

Municipal and sanitary district professionals across the country are responsible for sewer systems that need repair, rehabilitation and/or replacement. Funding the necessary maintenance and renewal to sustain the system is always challenging, for the needs typically outweigh available funds. Developing an Asset Management (AM) program is one way to identify the real system needs and timing of work, but building an AM program can take years. However, there is a desktop analysis that can be performed as a beginning or interim step to identify how much funding may be needed to sustain the sewer system. The desktop analysis provides an order of magnitude estimate to identify sewer system needs from a long-term perspective that goes beyond the typical five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) timeframe. More importantly, it provides a base from which to make reasonable recommendations to develop a funding strategy that will build and support a sustainable sewer AM program.