FEATURED ARTICLES

• Maximizing The Value Of Asset And Work Management Systems

  Here’s how asset management and work management solutions integrated within a GIS-centric system of action can do a better job of supporting both tactical and strategic aspects of utility operation.

• City Of Sacramento Uses Trimble Technology For Their Water Meter Reading Automation Program, ROI Realized Within Three Months

  In early 2015, about 58 percent of the city was on metered water service -- but the DOU aimed for 100 percent metered service over the following few years. To that end, the DOU launched a multi-year Water Meter Reading Automation program to install the Badger Meter (Badger Meter, Inc., Milwaukee, WI) Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) which includes smart meters, a fixed communication network, software and meter deployment handhelds. To compliment Badger’s meter deployment handhelds (developed by Trimble) the city opted to use Trimble software on the handheld devices. By combining the Trimble software and Trimble handhelds, DOU leaders determined they could achieve significant savings on the AMI installation project.

• Loudoun Water Digitizes Field Operations With Trimble Unity

  Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., Loudoun Water provides drinking water and wastewater services to more than 80,000 households in one of the nation's fastest-growing counties. Loudoun Water maintains over 1,200 miles of water distribution pipelines, more than 900 miles of wastewater collection system pipelines and a growing reclaimed non-potable water system. To keep pace with increasing demands, Loudoun Water decided to improve its process for handling asset maintenance and field service work orders.

• Orange County Sanitation District uses Trimble Unity For Wastewater Manhole Asset Maintenance, Mapping And Inspection

  The Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) is a wastewater treatment facility that serves Orange County, California. It consists of two operating plants, referred to as Plant No. 1 located in Fountain Valley and Plant No. 2 located in Huntington Beach. It is the third largest wastewater treatment facility west of the Mississippi River.

• Sutton & East Surrey Water Uses Trimble Unity To Provide A Modern Solution For Field Crews

  Sutton & East Surrey Water (SESW), located in the southeast of England, supplies around 160 million liters of water to 655,000 people and 17,000 businesses through a water network that covers 835 square kilometers. Groundwater accounts for 85% of their supplied water; the remaining 15% is extracted from Bough Beech reservoir, and they maintain 3,400 km of water mains. Their major assets include: one surface reservoir, eight treatment works, 23 pumping stations, 31 service reservoirs, and Water towers

• Brunswick & Topsham Water District Achieves Significant Cost Savings With Trimble Water's Mapping Solution

  The Brunswick & Topsham Water District had maintained extensive maps and information cards for the infrastructure of the water system. The job of surveying and mapping the hydrants, valves and other assets in the water system was a manual, labor intensive process. The District identified that automating the process would greatly reduce some of the field time dedicated to benchmarking, surveying and paper based map redlining. This data when returned to the office, resulted in the need for the data to be drafted on maps and distributed so the updates could be integrated into the card catalogs and data binders where the District tracked this information.

• Beyond The Buzzword: How Utility Operators Can Use Big Data For Better Asset Management, Operations, And Customer Engagement

  Big Data is more than a marketing buzzword. It’s become an essential tool for helping utility operators prioritize capital investments, manage network assets, and provide a higher level of service to customers.

• Pressure Point: Overlooked Pipeline Tech Strengthens Water Distribution Systems

  Water distribution might sound as easy as passing water through pipes, but good municipal managers know better. With failing infrastructure rampant and an increased focus on operational efficiency, water quality, and conservation, distribution systems demand oversight and optimization. 

• Metropolitan Sewer District Of Greater Cincinnati

  The Lower Mill Creek Partial Remedy (LMCPR) in Hamilton County, Ohio, is a large, complex effort to remove about 1.78 billion gallons of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) annually from the Mill Creek, an Ohio River tributary. When complete, LMCPR will improve water quality and serve as a catalyst to improve local neighborhoods.

• City Of Westminster, Colorado, And The Value Of Trustworthy Data

  This case study explores how the City of Westminster in Colorado has implemented a new mobile app, Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks, to streamline workflows and reduce manual data entry for water utility crews.

• Solar And Water Construction For Sustainable Development

  Current construction practices in the US contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Sustainable construction aims to reduce energy consumption, minimize waste production, and lower a building's carbon footprint through solar energy, water-saving strategies, and carbon-neutral materials.

• Groton Utilities: Improving Efficiency And Performance With Enterprise Asset Management

  In this case study, read about a Connecticut utility that deployed integrated solutions to streamline asset management, maintenance, and reporting. 

• Leveraging Digital Infrastructure Management Technology For Real-World Benefits

  For many utilities, large and small, hang-ups over new and innovative technology for infrastructure management often boil down to “How are we going to implement (or pay for) all of that?” Fortunately, a new approach to integrating existing GIS and asset data, Internet of Things (IoT) real-time data collection, powerful analytical software, and more is providing solutions to turn tough challenges into manageable solutions that are accessible on a subscription basis.

• Reaping The Benefits Of Proactive Asset Management

  The more a water distribution or wastewater collection operation knows about its infrastructure, the better equipped it is to optimize performance, maximize asset life, and prioritize long-term capital investment. Here is a breakdown of enterprise asset management (EAM) opportunities and the advantages they offer — from more timely data collection, to more in-depth cost analysis, to more cost-effective decision-making.

• Mapping Assets For Resilience And Response In Emergencies

  Among utilities concerned about resilience and response in natural disasters or other emergencies, precise asset inventory and mapping are high priorities. In truth, there is value in having the same information for everyday purposes as well. For anyone who has ever had a problem locating or tracking key water or wastewater system assets, here are several good reasons and ways to avoid a last-minute scramble.

• Asset Monitoring: Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth?

  Mapping the assets of a water treatment, water distribution, or wastewater collection and treatment system is just the means to an end. Maximizing value from that effort requires systematic planning and a healthy curiosity for looking into patterns of activity. Here are some considerations for turning raw asset data into more valuable benchmarks for better decision-making across multiple aspects of water operations.