We have collectively arrived at an infrastructure
crossroads. The implementation of full
spectrum public infrastructure asset management will be one of the dominating themes
this century. Designing, constructing,
and managing highly complex public infrastructure in a resource constrained
world has collided head on into a world of limited fiscal resources. Greater attention and focus will be required
in the context of the efficiency and effectiveness of our public infrastructure
management systems.
The demand for better asset management is also taking place
under a global desire and need for innovative and comprehensive green
infrastructure policies. The
environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure have
become broadly understood and accepted. Public
concerns regarding a more sustainable world have produced a need for planners,
engineers, and asset managers to have a broader and more holistic view of our
national infrastructure. In many ways,
the questions of green infrastructure (How to protect and preserve existing
natural resources, Where to direct development in the community, and How to
develop on individual sites?) have collided with the key questions of asset
management (What do we own, Where is it located, What condition is it in, and
How long will it last?). A new paradigm
is emerging that will require linking the management philosophy of asset
management with the goals of a greener and more sustainable future.
We live and work in a highly complex world of systems, yet
don’t always see the whole of systems and interfaces in the context of public
and private infrastructure. We rarely
ask questions in the context of infrastructure systems and behavior – from the
full range of technical issues to social concerns to economic constraints to
environmental sustainability. This new
paradigm will require public officials and managers to have the ability to
identify and understand the critical infrastructure interdependencies that
exist in a broad spectrum of public and private infrastructure systems. We have a collective imperative to reimagine
our public infrastructure systems with the goal of breaking through
institutional silos and finding innovation that connects systems for the
greatest community wide benefit for the long term.
Driving along any highway or road in the United States
illustrates the problem of how we have heavily invested in many infrastructure
systems, which for the most part are managed separately and are
uncoordinated. Roughly 30% of any
community is covered by streets and sidewalks.
Much of this property in the public right-of-way is the most valuable
real estate. Beneath the highway
pavement you have an assortment of critical infrastructure – sanitary sewer,
water, stormwater, natural gas, electricity, and telecommunications. If one organization or business entity owned
this entire infrastructure, it would be unthinkably poor management not to
closely coordinate maintenance and replacement activities across business
lines.
Yet that is exactly what happens. Under the public’s wealth of high value real
estate is a collection of multi-agency ownership driven by multi-purposes with
their own mandates, budgets, planning, and work cultures. Thinking in terms of system asset management
is the exception rather than the rule.
The “whole-system approach” revolves around the idea that systems are
best understood in the context of how these parts and people from relationships
with each other and with other systems and not as the working of individuals
and independent components.
The idea of a more sustainable and green stormwater solution
highlights the challenges and opportunities embedded in a broader and more
comprehensive view of asset management.
The “greening” of stormwater management provides an excellent case study
on the need to bridge the divides and link the silos of asset management and
green infrastructure policies. As
previously mentioned, city and county government have limited financial
resources to allocate to the many demands under local control. This includes stormwater management and the
costs for implementing and enforcing the expensive Clean Water Act requirements. With decreased funding from the federal
government to pay for operations and maintenance of existing public stormwater
systems as well as the costs associated with implementing long-term control
plans, local governments and citizens must identify and select the most
cost-effective solutions to meet regulatory requirements.
In light of these predicted costs for stormwater, sanitary,
and combined sewer systems, using green infrastructure as a form of asset
management is a major driver behind the shift towards establishing a hybrid
system of grey, piped infrastructure and green vegetated infrastructure. By using green infrastructure to divert flow
from sewer systems, grey infrastructure costs can be reduced in terms of operations
and maintenance costs and future systems can be smaller in size.
Many communities are passing green infrastructure policies
as a means for better managing existing infrastructure assets and avoiding
future operations and maintenance costs.
The menu of green infrastructure assets in terms of stormwater includes
bioswales, rain gardens, infiltration practices, street trees, and porous
paving materials. For most capital and
transportation projects, green infrastructure assets constitute a small percentage
of the total funding requirements. The real
challenge is the integration of what is known regarding the existing
infrastructure assets with the proposed green infrastructure.
Integrating green projects into the infrastructure matrix
seems the perfect time and opportunity to examine a more holistic view of asset
management. The introduction of porous
pavement, underground storage reservoirs, stormwater bump-outs, and
infiltration trenches will require communities and leaders to examine all the
infrastructure components that interface and produce interdependencies with
existing assets. Knowing the location,
condition, and projected life of existing water and sanitary sewer utilities
under a roadway is critical when designing infiltration trenches and storage
reservoirs. It makes little sense to
focus on roadway and green assets without an understanding of the condition and
projected service life of utilities that directly interface with the project
site. In terms of afford, resilient,
sustainable, and integrated management practices, it also makes little sense to
design green infiltration points near critical infrastructure – such as high
volume telecommunication vaults.
If you have to dig up a street in a more sustainable world –
it is important to have an asset management operating philosophy that supports
the goal of digging it up once. The
“digging it up once” mentality in the world of holistic asset management and
expanding green infrastructure policies will require leaders and managers to
have a new and more robust set of tools and platforms. These tools will include the development of
asset registers in a GIS platform that facilities more comprehensive planning
and analysis. It will include a greater
need and focus on asset condition assessment for renewal and replacement
planning. It will include the
development of strategic plans that better integrate the worlds of grey and
green infrastructure. It will include a
greater reliance on computerized maintenance management systems to better track
the benefits of green infrastructure policy implementation. It will allow public officials and leaders
the opportunity to better optimize the balancing between O&M and CIP
investments and grey and green.
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