Stormwater Asset Management Enabled by RFID

Stormwater systems are increasingly stressed due to the growing number of high precipitation events and the pressure on aging stormwater system capacity. Now, more than ever, efficient stormwater asset management is crucial to public safety and regulatory compliance. Unfortunately, the cost and effort of conducting field inspections and collecting accurate and comprehensive data is an ongoing challenge for municipalities. Radio frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been widely used in many industries for its unique ability to track items without needing direct visual confirmation. Passive RFID tags don't require power and can be affixed to nearly anything. Today, RFID is rapidly becoming the solution to bridging the gaps in field data collection workflows for stormwater management. This session will explore on-going deployments using RFID-enabled asset marking for stormwater assets in combination with mobile data collection and GIS-based asset management systems. Initial pilots indicate that RFID-enabled asset marking reduces the time, cost and errors in field data inspections. Several deployments will be reviewed, including how the approach performed when used with Esri's ArcGIS Online to manage water sampling stations; and when a range of assets are tagged, including catch basins, hydrants and manholes. The system consists of: RFID-enabled tags placed on assets RFID readers tied to mobile devices via Bluetooth Software apps (web or software) that run on the mobile device The workflow is as follows: 1. RFID tags are placed on the asset 2. The RFID tag is accessed through the reader and specific information is written to the RFID tag, including asset owner, date/time, lat/long 3. Then the tag data is connected to its specific asset record in ArcGIS through web apps or a widget on the mobile device which then launch inspection/maintenance forms for completion in the field. This data can be accessed and managed in the office or in the field, creating a direct link between physical assets and data. Additionally, accurate geolocation and asset performance data removes the guess-work from future location and maintenance. At the conclusion of this session, participants will be better able to: Understand the use of using RFID-enabled technology to enhance stormwater infrastructure asset locating maintenance, monitoring and management.