Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Treatment Asset Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
St. James council approves asset management study for aging water treatment plant
Summary
Council approved a proposal to produce a multi-year asset management plan for the water treatment plant, including an internal inspection of a buried reservoir and a cost-and-life assessment of plant components to inform multi-year budgeting.
The St. James City Council on Oct. 7 approved a proposal to develop an asset management plan for the city’s water treatment plant, aiming to catalog components, estimate remaining service life and produce projected replacement costs to guide budgeting over 0–5, 5–10 and 10–15 year horizons.
John, who presented the plan to the council, said parts of the treatment plant date back 40 years and some additions are about 25 years old. He noted a buried concrete reservoir predates both sections and has never had a thorough internal inspection. "Nowadays, we are in the area era of drones. So we have a submersible submarine drone that has the camera. Part of this evaluation would be to go in there and do a full evaluation from the inside of that concrete buried concrete reservoir to see what conditions are and if there's any preemptive maintenance needs," he said.
The plan would inventory electrical, plumbing, mechanical (including HVAC), architectural elements (roofing, doors, windows) and the water system process equipment. It would rate each component’s expected remaining life and estimate replacement costs, producing a 5- to 10-year list of items to be budgeted and identifying larger projects for planned preventive maintenance.
Council members pressed only briefly and the presenter described the effort as largely preventive: "Right now I think this is more basic preventative," John said, adding that recent years had shown frequent reactive repairs such as meter failures and pipe or valve replacements.
The council voted to authorize the asset management study and directed staff to incorporate its findings into upcoming budget planning. The study is intended as a planning tool for city staff to better anticipate maintenance and capital needs rather than a commitment to immediate capital outlay.
Next steps: staff will begin the study, schedule the reservoir inspection, and return findings and cost estimates to the council to inform the FY2027 budgeting process.
