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GJ Conference Valve Exercise FINAL - RH
- 1. David Bries –City of Montrose Ramsey T. Hemaidan – Wachs Water Services 1 Renewing the Valve Exercising Program in Montrose
- 2. Agenda Background ofMontrose Valve Exercise Program Why do a control program Why outsource a control program How it’s working for Montrose Discussion 2
- 3. Background • Montrose understoodthe value of a valve exercise program and had invested in valve exercise equipment. • With staff limitations, valve exercise program was getting bumped due to higher priority tasks. • Field crews were noticing problems isolating line segments due to inoperable or inaccessible valves. 3
- 4. Why do acontrol program? Control… KNOWING information on “on/off” assets AND KNOWING the usability of each “on/off” asset 4 So you can plan, respond and manage system flows and reduce the cost of failures… faster and impact fewer customers
- 5. Why do acontrol program? Value of control Assets Information Return on Investment 5
- 6. hydrant valve service Asset usability consequences: •Duration: damaging flow and actions to control the situation – 3 valves vs. 7 valves • Footprint: more customers out of service – 3 services vs. 17 services break Why do a control program
- 7. What are wecontrolling, reducing?
- 8. Economic value ofcontrol is realized in both; O&M budgets by reducing costs Capital budgets by deferring investments Plus the other two elements of the TBL Environmental Social Control is a function of; Asset usability Information usability The Value of Control
- 9. Can I findit? What Constitutes Asset Usability? Can I access it? Can I fully close it? Asset Usability
- 10.
- 11. Findable Accessible Operable ? AssetUsability Asset Usability
- 12. Is there meaningfulcontent? What Constitutes Information Usability? Is it accurate? Is it available? Information Usability
- 13. 190 ft Information Usability:Accuracy
- 14.
- 15. Content Accuracy Availability InformationUsability Information Usability
- 16. Return on Investment 16 Withbetter assets and information, we can respond quicker and more efficiently, reduce damages and water loss, save time and protect more customers
- 17. 5 areas ofsavings that include Collateral Damage (e.g. roads washed out, private property claims etc.) Labor and Equipment (shutdown, excavation, repairs, etc.) Outage Disruptions (direct societal costs, bottled water for residents, hotel stays, etc.) Traffic Disruption costs Water Loss costs Return on Investment
- 18.
- 19. Valve Operability 19 Operability Definitions InitialOperability: Upon arrival, can the valve be located, accessed and operated by the crew in ten minutes? Current Operability: The valve operability after all assessment and repair work has been completed.
- 20. National Operability 60% =National Average Operability
- 21. Why outsource acontrol program 21
- 22. Why outsource acontrol program Best practices Variable staffing Highest efficiency Accountability 22 Utilities have a full time job operating aging systems and taking care of customers. A control program is a foundation for the utility, and insures that the utility can respond in the most efficient and effective way, increase customer service, and save money for ratepayers.
- 23. How’s it workingfor Montrose 23
- 24. How it’s workingfor Montrose Engaged Wachs Water Services in 2014 for 563 valves Focus on Transmission mains and known critical valves in the system And continued in 2015 for an additional 566 valves Focus on oldest part of the system Plan to continue on this pace into the future It’s working! 24
- 25. Areas Worked 2014 Focuson Transmission Mains and Main arteries 25
- 26. Program Summary 2014 26 563valves assessed • 19% increase in usability 19 valves found closed - now open 2 frozen valves rehabilitated 14 valves uncovered (previously inaccessible) 152 map discrepancies 70 unusable valves identified for prioritization by Montrose
- 27. Current Operability Valve Operability- 2014 Initial Operability 27
- 28. 28 Valve Initial Operability2014 563 Valves
- 29. 29 Valve Current Operability2014 563 Valves
- 30.
- 31.
- 32. Map Discrepancies –Valves 2014 32
- 33. Unusable valves: 2014,for prioritization by Montrose 33 Description Total Cannot Locate 29 Stuck Lid 13 Paved Over/Need To Raise 9 Debris/Large Vacuum Needed 8 Op Nut Rounded 3 Frozen 2 Misaligned Box 2 Major Packing Leak 1 Sheared Stem 1 Spins Free 1 Bent Stem 1 TOTAL: 70
- 34. Areas Worked 2015 Focuson older parts of infrastructure 34
- 35. Program Summary 2015 566valves assessed • 60% increase in usability 35 valves found closed - now open 3 frozen valves rehabilitated 3 valves uncovered (previously inaccessible) 93 map discrepancies 57 unusable valves identified for prioritization by Montrose 35
- 36. Valve Operability -2015 Initial Operability 36 Current Operability
- 37. 37 Valve Initial Operability2015 566 Valves
- 38. 38 Valve Current Operability2015 566 Valves
- 39.
- 40.
- 41. Map Discrepancies –Valves 2015 41
- 42. 42 Description Total Cannot Locate22 Misaligned/Damaged Box 13 Op Nut Rounded/Missing 11 Paved Over/Need To Raise 9 Spins Free 2 TOTAL: 57 Unusable valves: 2015, for prioritization by Montrose
- 43. How’s it goingfor Montrose 43 It’s getting done! We know which valves work We know data on our valves We are prioritizing our repairs/replacements We are reducing the cost of failures This is an ongoing program That is getting done, is documented with data And, is delivering a return on the investment
- 44. 44 This is notthe time to figure out if your valves work!
- 45. 45 Because the Consequencescan be Huge!
- 46. 46a Discussion 46 David Bries –City of Montrose Ramsey T. Hemaidan – Wachs Water Services
Editor's Notes
- #7 Here’s an animation that illustrates the effect of unusable valves If there was a main break, at this red “starburst” icon, the plan would be to close these three valves, Let’s get to it…. Valve 1 closed Valve closed Everything is going well until I get to the last valve in the plan…. and I can’t find it… maybe its covered over in asphalt, but I don’t have time to pull out my metal detector and start searching so I move on…. Valve 4 Valve 5 Everything is going according to my “revised plan” until I get to what now is the 6th valve….. The roadway box is shifted and has moved off the center of the operating nut just enough that I can’t securely fit the valve key on securely…. I certainly don’t have time to dig down and realign the box and so once again, I back up…. And finally, by closing the seventh valve, I’m able to control the situation and turn the water off so the repair work can begin…. But by having to backup from what I thought was going to be 3 valves to 7, it took me twice as long And now there are close to 20 customers out of service when there only should have been 3 And is this scenario, 5 of 7 control points were useable, which translates to just about 70% \– a good 10 points higher than the average
- #8 Here are just a few pictures to give a face to some of the things we spoke about…. Well we talked about increased duration (and therefore damage) related to main breaks… this can translate into damage to roads and other public infrastructure as we see here, or damage to private property as we see here We talked about unintended outages and degraded water quality related to closed valves… this hydrant was opened in conjunction with the opening of a valve that had been closed for an unknown amount of time…. As you can see, the resultant dead-ends accumulated a significant amount of sediment What we’re looking at here is a list compiled from a 2007 AWWA paper on the cost main breaks… and while the discussion of control is broader than main breaks, this is a good starting point when trying to understand the costs associated with a lack of control We aren't going to go into each of these but as you can see, the list includes things you might expect Like labor – for both internal and external resources Collateral damage to parallel utilities Lost revenue – the meters aren't spinning when there’s no water And many, many others…
- #9 So how can we achieve increases in control and how is the value realized?
- #10 What makes a valve useable? If there answer to any of these questions is “no” it isn't useable
- #11 On average, where there isn't a proactive control point management strategy in place, about 40% of valves are unusable…. When people think about valves that don’t work, they typically jump to the valves that are corroded and broken – valves that have endured the mechanical effects of aging And while these mechanical challenges exist, statistically speaking, they are dwarfed by accessibility problems If someone needed to access this valve, they would most likely need a jackhammer to punch through this concrete curb…. and if they didn’t have the means to break through the curb, this just isn’t useable… and in many instances valves simply end up “lost”…. They’re on the maps, they just can’t be readily found in the field – they may be poorly mapped, they may have been removed or they may have never been installed -- this is typically one of the biggest usability challenges we see And here’s a few statistics we put together for an AWWA poster a couple of years ago that summarized the findings from hundreds of thousands of valve inspections from across the country – the good news is that improvements can be achieved (which in turn reduces risk) very cost effectively
- #13 But there’s another chapter when we’re talking about achieving sustainable control…. Information Usability These are the questions you need to ask yourself when evaluating how usable your information is an what the opportunities are for improvement
- #14 Here’s an example where the mapping is significantly challenged…. And how information usability ties back to asset usability.. The valve is mapped here <click> But found here <click> 190 ft away If you’re going by the map to find this valve, you’re probably not going to find it without considerable time/effort
- #15 Content (how deep valve is, type of valve. Take 50-75 attributes of data. Little bio of assett. It’s important to have relevant and meaningful information at the right time in one place…. Business systems should be capable of seamlessly answering pressing questions like: <click> When was it evaluated last? <click> Does it work? <click> Is it open? <click> - How many turns does it require to fully close it? <click> How much torque does it require to close and how deep is it --- what tools will I need? <click> These are typical operational questions but if valve is being tracked as closed in GIS or in the asset management system, the hydraulic model should have access to the information as well
- #20 75% of valve jobs is Simple valve program, just document valve (GPS valve, doe it work or not)…there is value in knowing and move on or we can do repairs if needed. (giving valve up to grade).