UAV + SURVEYING
GIS to the rescue!
New Jersey’s Water Quality Accountability Act is prompting municipalities to inventory and manage water distribution assets. By Suzanne M. Zitzman, GISP with Maraliese Beveridge
Water distribution systems consist of water storage facilities, pipes, and asset components that are responsible for the safe and reliable delivery of water to communities. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are more than 1 million miles of water distribution piping networks throughout the U.S. that require daily maintenance and operational activities to keep them running properly. As water distribution systems are aging throughout the nation, man- agement of those systems becomes critical in order to maintain the delivery of clean water to homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, and industrial facilities. Water distribution system owners have the American Water Works As- sociation (AWWA; www.awwa.org) to educate and provide effective management standards for maintaining their systems. AWWA is an international, nonprofit, scientific and educational society dedicated to providing total water solutions to assure effective water management. Founded in 1881, the association is the largest organization of water supply professionals in the world. Its membership includes more than 3,900 utilities that supply roughly 80 percent of the nation’s drink- ing water and treat almost half of the nation’s wastewater. AWWA has helped in establishing two preeminent organizations dedicated to safe water, the Water Research Foundation (www.waterrf.org) in 1966 and Water For People (www.waterforpeople.org) in 1991. Recent enactment of the New Jersey Water Quality Accountability Act (WQAA) has prompted the inventorying of water distribution assets, coupled with an asset management plan to track operation and main- tenance of distribution systems throughout the state following AWWA standards, resulting in a replacement plan for assets that are past their life expectancy. Enactment of the WQAA (N.J.S.A. 58:31-1 et seq.) has established new requirements for purveyors of public water in New Jersey to improve the safety, reliability, and administrative oversight of water infrastructure. Municipalities that own and operate a potable water system with more than 500 service connections will be affected and there’s not much time in which to comply. Effective Oct. 19, 2017,
A GIS technician gathers real-time GPS data on a stormwater conveyance system for a municipality’s GIS asset management program.
Using web-based GIS programs, asset data can be accessed and updated in the field through hand-held devices. For example, maps can be generated for a visual tool for field staff to follow as hydrant flushing takes place.
these new standards must be met by April 2019. A little history about asset management
The WQAA’s initiative is focused on facilitating development and implementation of an asset management plan for inspection, mainte-
Workers in the field can record the date of hydrant flushing along with a condition inventory of the hydrant.
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csengineermag.com
august 2018
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