Water Mains are Outta Sight The Need for Transparency in the Renewal Decision Process

Adequate funding levels for the renewal of buried potable water infrastructure have historically not been obtained due, in part, to the inability to convey and quantify to stakeholders and decision makers to real needs. Renewal investment needs for water mains can be even more difficult to determine since the assets are buried and assessing their condition can not be performed using visual methods. A determination of the various rates of deterioration for buried network assets distributed over a large geographic area is therefore challenging. The author has determined that one key to obtaining adequate funding levels is to work as transparently as possible to educate, inform, and solicit feedback from the public in the renewal decision making process. This paper looks at efforts currently in progress by two utilities to raise the level of awareness as to current and future funding needs for renewal.