Asset Management – The Foundation of a Proactive tormwater Management Program

A stormwater management program was needed in the City of Sandy Springs, Georgia to address state and federal environmental regulations regarding water quality issues and to improve the condition of the stormwater system. The City Council wanted to know what condition their system was in and how much money it would take to maintain the system. Sandy Springs decided to use an asset management approach with a computer management maintenance system (CMMS) to meet their stormwater permit requirements, track the citizen maintenance requests and develop the data they needed to define the City's stormwater budget needs. The process and lessons learned are presented. The inventory and condition assessment allowed the development of a budget that was presented with confidence to the City Council. A capital budget of 1.8 million was approved for stormwater services in FY 2011.