AWWA ACE65221

The original Water Infrastructure Now report, AWWA's own Dawn of the Replacement Era, and other reports and papers have pointed out that replacement and refurbishment (R&R) costs are assuming ever-increasing importance in the funding needs of many utilities. The huge networks of assets installed after World War II are coming up for replacement, and the sources of replacement funding remain, in most cases, unclear. As a result, more and more utilities are trying to gain a better understanding of their future R&R needs and to implement funding policies to ensure that enough funds will be available to cover these needs and that their infrastructure can continue to provide the levels of service that their communities are accustomed to. The City of San Diego Water Department is no exception. The Department decided to gain a better understanding of future infrastructure costs. These so-called "R&R costs" (for replacement and refurbishment) are typically quite high and growing for mature utilities such as San Diego's. The Department commissioned an information system named CAMS (Capital Asset Management System) to forecast these R&R costs and analyze funding options. CAMS was designed to use the Department's existing asset database and to provide the capacity for ongoing analysis as the Department improved its asset knowledge. This paper discusses the Department's motives in undertaking the development of CAMS and describes CAMS itself in some detail. Includes figures.