Infrastructure asset management – maturity assessment of water utilities based on international standards ISO 55000

Abstract

Infrastructure Asset Management (IAM) in the water sector can be described as the management of infrastructure assets that provide a service to users, achieving required levels of service, while minimizing the total cost of owning, operating and maintaining these assets, protecting the environment and ensuring safety. The relevance of implementing IAM processes in water utilities (WU) has been highly recognised worldwide in the last decade. The international standards on asset management ISO 55000 series applicable to any type of assets, put the service provision by the asset at the top of the decisional chain. The goal is to maximize the value of assets for the organization on a long-term perspective. The requirements established in the standards ISO 55000 series provide an opportunity to assess the maturity of water utilities regarding the implementation of IAM systems and processes. Based on these standards, an IAM evaluation system was developed, duly adapted for application to urban water infrastructures. This assessment system was applied to WU that developed their own IAM systems within a collaborative project on IAM. This system allows to demonstrate the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement of the WU. It also demonstrated the importance of adapting the general principles of the standards to the specificities of network-based public infrastructures. The potential benefits of the developed IAM assessment system are to provide a framework for a pre-assessment of the maturity of any water utility; for utilities’ self-assessment and for assessing the progress along the IAM process, ensuring the continuous improvement principle.