Coppell Asset Management

Plummer was retained by the City of Coppell to develop an asset management plan for the City’s water distribution and wastewater collection systems. Plummer’s asset management approach follows standard industry procedures for asset management. An asset’s risk score is computed by multiplying the asset’s likelihood of failure (LOF) by its consequence of failure (COF). In the absence of scored condition data for the City’s pipes, Plummer used surrogate parameters to approximate an LOF score. These surrogate parameters include age of the asset, material, number of work orders, etc. Additionally, Plummer conducted a staff knowledge capture session at the beginning of the project, in which City staff provided input on the condition of areas in the distribution and collection systems.

COF indicates how important a particular asset is to the City and how significant the consequences would be for that particular asset. Parameters that contribute to the COF score include public health and safety, proximity to roads, customer loss of revenue, modeled flow through pipeline, etc. Plummer facilitated a workshop with City staff to select key COF parameters and develop scoring matrices and weights to be used in the risk calculations.

After receiving GIS data from the City for their pipelines, roads, waterways, and work order records, Plummer developed a toolbox in GIS using Python scripts that calculates an LOF score, COF score, and overall risk score for each asset. The tool was delivered to the City at the end of the project in conjunction with a training session on use of the tool.

As part of the project, Plummer also developed a short-term inspection plan and a long-term investment plan for the City’s water and wastewater systems. The short-term inspection plan identified the pipelines in the City’s systems with the highest risk and recommended that they be visually inspected within the next few years. The long-term investment plan provided the City with estimated annual expenses over the next 100 years that can be expected to repair/replace pipelines as they begin to fail.