Committee advances $8 million municipal asset-management study to map drinking water, wastewater and storm systems
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Summary
The Select Water Committee recommended do-pass on a Select Water Committee bill that would fund a four-year, statewide asset-management study (drinking water, wastewater, stormwater) with a proposed $8,000,000 appropriation and an online GIS platform; DEQ said subscription costs could be covered by the Drinking Water SRF.
The Select Water Committee voted to advance a bill that would fund a four-year statewide municipal asset-management study, allocating $8,000,000 for initial planning to map drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure and create an online, GIS-based platform available as community dashboards and a statewide dashboard.
Jennifer Ziegman, water quality division administrator at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, described the project as ‘‘asset-management planning’’ that compiles records, maps assets (pipes, valves, tanks), tracks condition and life-expectancy, and supports financial scenario planning. The approach is records-first (contractors compile local records and existing studies) with visual confirmation when communities can provide it; the contractor would provide the platform license and the state expects to fund ongoing subscriptions from Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) administrative funds, estimated at about $250,000 per year.
Supporters from the construction and municipal sectors testified in favor. Kelly Little of the Associated General Contractors of Wyoming said the study would reduce change orders and save taxpayer dollars in future construction. Beth Blackwell, grant-and-loan specialist for the city of Newcastle, said the study would create a consistent statewide dataset to improve grant targeting and planning.
Committee members raised logistics and fiscal questions: how comprehensive the inventory would be (records-based, not universal potholing), who would hold licenses (contractor holds the platform license), how communities would be trained to use the system, and whether subscription costs would be ongoing obligations (DEQ said SRF administrative funds could pay subscriptions). The committee also discussed concerns about ensuring the study results lead to action and not a shelfed report. Amendments addressing funding lines were adopted and the committee took a roll-call vote on Senate File 69 as amended; five ayes were recorded and the bill received a do-pass-amended recommendation.
Next steps: the bill will go to the Senate floor for consideration; agencies and stakeholders will likely work on procurement, training and subscription details if the measure advances.