Water and Wastewater Utility Asset Management: Vehicles
There are innumerable articles, webinars, books, training sessions and publications that address asset management for water and wastewater utility systems. Though philosophies and frameworks vary, all of them essentially say, “Know what you have.” When we think about utility assets, we tend to picture structures such as pump houses, treatment plants, tanks, vaults, basins, the underground facilities and piping. These are easy to consider as “assets”. Keeping track of them involves building plans, up-to-date maps, maintenance history, and more. Unfortunately, though managers try to keep detailed records and maintenance plans for facilities, when capturing inventory for rate setting, vehicles used for many aspects of running the utility system often receive less attention.
If the system is large enough, there may be established fleet management personnel, procedures, recording systems, maintenance records, and maintenance schedules. In smaller systems however, where employees wear multiple hats or vehicles are used across a variety of purposes, record keeping and maintenance schedules may be in the hands of individuals that may not prioritize the care of the cars, pick-ups, dump trucks, tankers, vac-trucks, or even backhoes, tractors, mowers (depending on the manner in which such equipment is categorized for each system) with equal consideration of other equipment used in moving and treating water/wastewater. Hearing “I wasn’t the last one to use it” is not uncommon. Sometimes forgotten is the fact that the SUV used to travel to a water training session, or the tractor with a finishing mower to keep the wellhouse lot tidy, are both legitimate uses for utility system purposes. Keeping track of the vehicles can be made easier with the use of fleet maintenance software and programs, and a dedicated person with an aptitude for computers and data entry to maneuver through those systems. Of course, that is if the utility can afford such tools, which are generally quite pricey, and can be cumbersome for some fleets.
An alternative suggestion is to appoint one single person to oversee vehicle records, maintenance schedules, and other paperwork. This employee does not need to be the one performing the actual wrenching, lubing, and repair on the vehicles; the mechanical work can be contracted out. Documentation and recordkeeping can be done through a homemade spreadsheet or database, and a computer folder to hold scanned materials on each vehicle. Of course, some papers, certificates, and documents (titles, bills of sale, registration, insurance, etc.) are required to be kept in hard copy form, so an actual file folder (such as an expanding folder or accordion file keeper) for each vehicle is recommended. Keep the folders in a single location that is known and accessible to more than one employee.
Other items that are beneficial to place in a vehicle’s folder, whether real or electronic, include: receipts for all parts and services, notes on uses and users, comments and complaints from operators, and photographs. Speaking of pictures, be sure to take photos when the vehicle is first acquired, from each side and multiple angles, as this provides a historical record if damage occurs, or other future uses. Finally, provide each vehicle with a distinct identifier, be it a number or alpha-numeric designation. No need to be overly complicated with it. Do not reuse identifiers from previous units that have been removed from the fleet – confusion will ensue, and running out of numbers is generally not an imminent worry. Maintaining the care of these vehicles is a necessary and continuous component of any water and wastewater utility.
This article was funded under RCAP’s Treatment Works 2022 – 2023 grant.
