Use of WERF Strategic Asset Management Principles to Develop and Prioritize a CIP

The Water Environment Research Foundation's (WERF) ongoing research program defines strategic asset management (SAM) practices and develops tools and techniques that help utilities implement asset management (AM) programs.EMA and partnering organizations lead this research, which expands WERF and WaterRF's Sustainable Infrastructure Management Program Learning Environment (SIMPLE) knowledge base for AM in four “tracks”: (1) Public Communication, (2) Benchmarking Leading Practices, (3) Decision/Analysis Implementation Guidance, and (4) Remaining Asset Life. Track 2 identifies utilities' leading AM practices and develops utility examples, helping other utilities learn how to implement SAM. Implementation of key leading practices including business risk management, strategic asset planning and accounting and costing can help a utility optimize its capital improvement program.