Historically, water companies have been largely reactive in the management of deteriorating assets and network reliability. This may have been tolerated in the past, but Ofwat has made it clear that in AMP7 it is looking for improved network resilience for the lowest cost. Only a few water companies have so far presented a strategy that the regulator says is adequate.
While major hazard industries have a more urgent need for asset resilience, the water industry also faces similar pressures to safely reduce costs while improving operational performance.
Insight and ingenuity from the oil and gas, petrochemical and chemical sectors could therefore be adopted to enhance resilience and asset integrity. After all, any failure means there has been a clear lack of understanding of the status of the asset and the demands being made of it.
Data-led asset integrity management
One key area to improve is data flow, and the better use of that data.
Operational supply and demand forecasting are important to determine what performance is needed and for how long.
The next step is to understand how the asset should efficiently deliver the expected performance. Taking a full lifecycle approach, as is common in oil and gas, helps determine whether optimising the design or operation of the asset is desirable.
Reconfiguring networks and assets to increase their reliability, availability and resistance to failure often means simplification – an optimised network is often cheaper to run and maintain, and is more resilient.
For instance, identifying and utilising existing supply route diversity, drain-down capacity and reduced pump demand helps reduce outages, leakage and energy consumption, while maintaining water quality.
Attaining expected performance
Sometimes, operational improvements are needed to target effort and manage risk. For example, DNV GL, the technical adviser to the oil and gas and utility industries, worked with a utility provider to assess the risks associated with the condition of metering assets.
By applying data analytics based on historical evidence, we built a risk-based inspection programme for different types and ages of meter. This reduced the annual cost of the meter inspection programme by half while demonstrably ensuring that the risk associated with the meter population did not increase.
Tangible benefits
The major hazard industries have benefited from performance-driven approaches to asset integrity to manage risks to employees, contractors and the public. Regular reviews of performance delivery and verification have resulted in resilient, reliable assets, despite increasing age. This has allowed cost-conscious business models to be adopted, improving competitiveness and extending the economic life of assets and associated infrastructure.
Similar approaches are possible in the water industry and would allow the step change in the performance Ofwat is demanding in AMP7.
All the methods and tools to capture data, analyse it, build predictive models and make justifiable decisions exist. If implemented well, the benefits gained are significant. It is often a case of taking a broader view of asset performance to unlock the potential opportunities, and a robust, learning approach to delivering safe and sustainable results.