Asset Management - A Resource for Now

For years, the water sector has been preparing for a dynamic future—navigating evolving regulations, economic shifts, and changing climate conditions. Today, that future has arrived, giving us the opportunity to put our planning into action. Following the scarce winter with little snow to recharge our source waters, Colorado communities are already stepping up to wisely manage our vital water supplies. Now is the time to implement or improve upon a good Asset Management program. It is necessary now more than ever. 

Free Asset Management training!
The Local Assistance Unit (LAU) is now offering Asset management on a quarterly basis as part of their regular training courses. The Asset Management (AM) course curriculum will review the 5 core criteria of asset management and demonstrate how to apply each of them to your system. You will learn how to get started and review some tools to assist you in developing an asset management plan. No need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to AM, there are many tools and templates available that fit the needs of every sized system. 

Can’t make a workshop and need assistance with asset management or capacity development?
The Colorado Department of Public Health (CDPHE) Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) has capacity coaching available for free through the Local Assistance Unit (LAU). A Public Water System can request assistance by filling out the Coaching Assistance Form. 

Join us for an Asset Management course and learn how to begin your asset management program and earn 0.2 TU’s for attending. 

What is Asset Management?
Asset Management is a proactive approach to managing a public drinking water system’s infrastructure and capital assets. It gives systems tools to optimize output at the lowest possible operating cost. By prioritizing assets, estimating useful life, and improving decisions about asset rehabilitation, repair, and replacement, it enables more accurate budgeting. Budgeting will continue to become more critical as systems face continued and potentially worse drought conditions. Water restrictions mean less revenue for systems which means doing more with less and making strategic long term planning even more necessary. Asset Management is a tool to help with this critical next step. 

➽ Angela Green Garcia, Drinking Water Training Specialist

Colorado Water Loss Initiative: Training and Technical Assistance for Water Loss Control

Water loss is water that is lost in a municipal distribution system between treatment and consumption. There are two types of water loss that lead to lost revenue and resources for systems and customers, real loss (leaky pipes) and apparent loss (metering inaccuracies, data handling errors). Real water loss typically occurs before any water meters, which are often located as the water enters buildings. This means that a utility is paying for all the cost of transporting the water from source to treatment plus treatment and distribution costs, but getting no revenue in return. 

Globally, water losses from drinking water supply networks account for 9 billion gallons a day of water use. Cost effective water loss management reduces cost and increases revenue, which improves a systems bottom line and better serves its customers. The Colorado Water Loss Initiative (CWLI) is a program developed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) that provides training and technical assistance to water providers. In November 2023, the Colorado Water Conservation Board instituted an annual water loss reporting requirement for systems supplying at least 2,000 acre feet of water per year to their customers. The CWLI was established to provide a comprehensive training program for systems as part of the Colorado Water Plan strategic objective to support water management activities for all water providers and drive water loss implementation to address future water needs.  The benefit to you, a training course on how to identify water loss, collect water loss data, audit and validate data, along with technical assistance to develop solutions to decrease water loss in your system. 

CWLI Training Program

The CWLI offers a training program to assist systems in learning the AWWA Free Audit Software and implementing the American Water Works Association (AWWA) M36 methodology to quantify water loss. Once systems have completed the data collection, auditing, and validation phase of training, they are then provided technical assistance opportunities to implement controls and tools to minimize water loss. Technical assistance can include activities such as meter testing and design analysis or billing data analysis and prorating. Grant assistance is available to program participants to remedy prioritized water loss interventions that were identified through the program.  

Who can benefit from the training?

All drinking water systems. Do you have a small system and aren’t required to report annual losses but still interested in water loss? No problem, small systems can benefit from the water loss program and are encouraged to register. Water loss best management practices can help all systems save water, money, prepare for water supply shortages, and prepare for future climate impacts. All systems will learn to take the appropriate steps toward effective water loss control management. 

How much is it? And where do I register for the program?

The program and materials are offered at no cost and are available to all eligible drinking water staff. See the below resources to learn more about the program

• Video interviewing participants about their experience
• CWCB Water Talk Podcast - CWLI staff discusses the program
• Register here for the program

Interested in helping to improve water loss control and management? Join the CWLI Committee!

The Colorado Water Loss Control & Management Committee was formally established in December 2023 by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The committee's objective is to improve water loss control and management by planning water loss strategies, trade technical information, inform water loss policy discussions, train and educate water utilities on water loss, and support water loss goals of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. You can find more information at the Colorado Water Loss Control & Management Committee  website.  

➽ Angela Green Garcia, Drinking Water Training Specialist

➽ Kevin Reidy, DNR, Senior Water Efficiency Specialist 

State Revolving Fund Improvements

The State Revolving Fund (SRF) is implementing improvements to the prioritization process that will go into effect in 2025. The goal of these improvements is to ensure that the highest priority projects have the best chance at receiving SRF funding throughout the year. This article covers the upcoming changes and some helpful reminders as you begin preparing your application for funding.

• To receive updates about the SRF Program and reminders about the upcoming eligibility survey, please sign up for the Grants and Loans mailing list here. 

What is changing?

The current process is based on a first-come, first-serve process and does not utilize priority points until the end of the application process. As a result, it can prevent projects that score a high number of priority points from receiving funding because they apply too late in the funding year when funding capacities are lowest. The new prioritization process will implement priority scoring early in the process and provide advance notice of project priority and funding opportunities. The criteria for project scoring can be found in Attachment 1 of the Drinking Water Revolving Fund and Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund Intended Use Plans (IUPs).

Under the new process, priority points will be used to determine when a project may submit a loan application. Projects that score at or above the threshold may apply at any loan cycle during the year. Also, any borrower that qualifies as a disadvantaged community (DAC) is eligible to come in at any cycle. Projects that score below the threshold may only apply at the “Open” cycles. The priority point threshold for the WPCRF program is 100 and the threshold for the DWRF program is 110 points. Applicants will be provided a preliminary score at the prequalification stage and a final score at the project needs assessment stage. Please see the proposed schedule for "Open" and "Limited" cycles:

• January 5th (leveraged) - Open
• February 5th - Open
• April 5th - Limited
• June 5th (leveraged) - Limited
• August 5th - Limited
• October 5th - Limited
• November 5th - Limited

When will this go into effect?

The changes will go into effect in 2025. The current process will remain unchanged until that time. The 2025 IUP’s have been approved by the Water Quality Control Commission and will be posted on the website later this year. A list of FAQs can be accessed here. 

Helpful Tips & Reminders

In order to apply for SRF funds, you have to complete the eligibility survey which is the first step in the SRF process. The eligibility survey should be completed the year prior to be eligible for funding. The eligibility survey for funding in 2025 has been completed. If you are interested in future funding, be sure to complete the 2026 eligibility survey that will be open during the early summer of 2025. You will want to get signed up in the Colorado Environmental Online Services (CEOS) system to access the forms. The eligibility survey is not an application and completing it does not guarantee your project funding.

If you completed the 2025 eligibility survey and are planning on applying for funding in 2025, be sure you complete the Pre-Qualification form which triggers the next step of the process, the pre-qualification meeting. The Pre-Qualification form can be found in CEOS. During your pre-qualification meeting, your project manager will walk you through the loan process and the next steps. Here are links to the loan program steps for the Drinking Water Revolving Fund (DWRF) and Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund (WPCRF) and the main program page. 

If you have any questions about the SRF loan process, feel free to email cdphe_grantsandloans@state.co.us. If you need assistance navigating CEOS or form submission you can contact Angela Garcia  angela.garcia@state.co.us.

➽ Angela Green Garcia, Drinking Water Training Specialist

➽ James Wheatley, Project Manager

  

Asset Management - Manage Your System Optimally

As systems prepare to submit their Lead Service Line Inventories (LSLI) this October, it has become abundantly clear that the water sector needs to put more resources into identifying what resources and assets they have and where they are located. Ideally, a bulk of the LSLI should have been completed using documentation. However, many systems lack records for their distribution systems. This gap in asset inventory is making the task of documenting their service line material types more costly and difficult. In the past many systems have taken a reactive approach, - “when it breaks, we fix it”, to manage their system. However, with the changing regulatory requirements, increasing financial hardships, and increasing climate and resource challenges, it has become necessary to plan ahead to ensure the health of public water systems into the future. It is necessary to know what resources you have and maximize their usefulness.  

Asset Management (AM) is a proactive approach to managing a system’s infrastructure and capital assets. AM gives systems tools to optimize output at the lowest possible operating cost. It facilitates both short and long term success by prioritizing assets, estimating useful life, and enables more accurate budgeting. Taking an asset management approach allows systems to hone their operations and maintenance planning by prolonging asset life and improving decisions about asset rehabilitation, repair, and replacement. Systems are able to use resources when and where they are needed most ensuring maintenance on critical assets can be done and there is enough money to do it.

AM is a scalable, thoughtful approach to systems management and can be applicable to any size system. It can help with coordination across an organization to help ensure that the right work is done in the right order at the right time. 

Not sure where to start, feeling intimidated? Come to one of the free training sessions offered by the Local Assistance Unit (LAU). Asset management will be presented this summer during the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Regional Workshops in partnership with the Department of Local Affairs and the Grants and Loans Unit. Additionally, the LAU will be rolling out an asset management course as part of the regular course offerings in 2025. The Asset Management course curriculum will review the 5 core criteria of asset management and demonstrate how to apply each of them to your system. You will learn how to get started and review some tools to assist you in developing an asset management plan. No need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to AM, there are many tools and templates available that fit the needs of every sized system. 

Join us!

Asset Management: A Management Framework and the associated toolkit will be presented as part of the SRF Regional Workshops scheduled for:

• July 11, 2024 - Alamosa, CO - Adams State University 
• Register Here
• July 23, 2024 - Akron, CO - Akron Senior & Community Center 
• Register Here

The workshop will cover topics related to SRF basics, funding options for drinking water and waste water infrastructure, asset management planning and tools, current and upcoming regulations and much more.   

Can’t make a workshop and need assistance with asset management or capacity development?

The Colorado Department of Public Health (CDPHE) Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) has free capacity coaching available for public water systems through the Local Assistance Unit (LAU). A PWS can request assistance by filling out the Coaching Assistance Form. 

➽Angela Green Garcia, Drinking Water Training Specialist 

Asset Management - the Key to a System's Capacity

The Water Quality Control Division’s Local Assistance Unit is charged with assisting Colorado’s public water systems with building their capacity to provide safe drinking water to their communities now and into the future. Capacity can be defined  as the amount that something can hold or produce, whether it is applied to people, things or systems. In a public water system (PWS), capacity is an indicator of the overall health of a system. A PWS’s capacity is assessed using 3 criteria: Technical, Managerial, and Financial or T-M-F. Just 3 little letters, sounds simple, right?  

Don’t let the  simplicity of those letters fool you, they are powerful. The key to a successful and healthy water system is T-M-F capacity. Every part of a water system can be classified under one (or more) of these criteria areas. So, it makes sense that understanding your system's capacity is essential to running a successful water system. In fact, when applying for funding an in depth capacity assessment may be required, depending on the funding source.  Beyond funding however, it is a tool that helps you manage and assess your system’s needs both short and long term.  

How can you determine your system's capacity?  

CDPHE’s TMF capacity worksheet tool can assist you. This worksheet offers a condensed, quick-tool version of the more robust TMF assessment done when applying for funding. By completing each question you will generate an estimate of your capacity percentage for each criteria area TM & F.  Using this percentage you can determine which areas are in good shape and which areas require more focus. Good TMF capacity is often tied to good asset management.  Understanding your system as a whole is critical to short- and long-term planning. Assets are everything your system is composed of from the physical infrastructure, pipes, meters, tubing, valves, etc. to the people that work in your system. Asset management is a cumulative inventory of your system as a whole that allows you to critically assess each piece, its lifetime, cost, and to generate a prioritized needs assessment. There are a variety of tools available for developing your asset management plan:

• Asset inventory is a big part of asset management and the EPA’s Taking Stock of Your Water System: A Simple Asset Inventory for Very Small Drinking Water Systems is an easy to follow tool that will help you begin developing your asset inventory. 
• Asset Management: A Handbook for Small Water Systems offers a step by step guide to building a full asset management plan. A robust asset management plan facilitates high capacity and high capacity is directly tied to a systems success.  

Need assistance with asset management or capacity development?

The Colorado Department of Public Health (CDPHE) Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) has capacity coaching available for free through the Local Assistance Unit (LAU). A PWS can request assistance by filling out the Coaching Assistance Form. Please welcome the newest member of our capacity development team Angela Green Garcia. Angela will be focusing on asset management and financial readiness.  

➽ Angela Green Garcia - Drinking Water Training Specialist

Coaches' Classroom: Asset Management

What is Asset Management - What’s in it for you? 

First off, you may be asking yourself, what exactly is an asset? Everything from your water source (maybe a reservoir or even a well) all the way to the valves, pipes, and storage tanks in your distribution system. Even your treatment chemicals, filters, and pumps. Don’t forget your operators, buildings, and office equipment. All of these are assets and they are essential to protecting public health and the environment. 

Asset management has many definitions but think of it as getting the most for your money. Through asset management, you will learn how to optimize the lifespan of your equipment and reduce water quality problems due to failing equipment. 

In fact, asset management is one important activity involved with developing adequate Technical, Managerial, and Financial (TMF) Capacity, and it is a best management practice that department inspectors are looking for during the sanitary survey process.

Asset Management Resources & Training Opportunities 

Every system has differences in equipment, environment, and financial capacity. Owners and operators must study and understand the specific assets that their system has. They must keep records and make plans in order to make sure their system is operating at its best now and in the future. Unsure how to pull together all of the critical information or where to get started? There are resources and people available to you. 

• The EPA provides numerous tools for both owners and operators to explain the benefits of asset management and ways to implement specific asset management practices for small systems. 
• The division’s Local Assistance Unit provides various free training opportunities, including Building Resilience in Your Water/Wastewater System, which covers asset management. Operators who participate can get up to 0.4 training units. 

If you still have questions after reviewing these tools and attending the free training, consider one-on-one assistance provided by the Local Assistance Unit. Click here to request a coaching visit (virtual or in-person options are available). 

We all have the same goal in mind - the protection of public health and the environment, and with some thoughtful planning and communication, we can help ensure this happens. 

➽ Jessica Morgan, Facility and Operator Outreach and Certification Board Liaison