DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery”, released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in May 2021

Note to Reader:

In the story that follows, Wally Wells, Executive Director of Asset Management BC, elaborates on the context for a provincial demonstration application program to operationalize asset management as a decision process for sustainable service delivery.

It is Budget Season – Are we asking the right questions?

“Every year local government Councils and Regional Boards deal with the annual budget, usually in two primary sections: the operating budget, and the capital budget. If local governments are to ensure the ‘sustainability’ of service delivery, all the players involved need to focus on WHY the project should proceed as opposed to the WHAT the project is,” urges Wally Wells.

“I have really struggled with the issue of Councils not asking the right questions. How do we get people engaged in asset management? That is the challenge that we must resolve. It calls for a bottom-up and top-down solution.”

“Bottom-up means showing that improving maintenance defers capital costs and improves reliability of assets. Top-down means recognizing that we can make better decisions across the organization if we have the right information. The over-arching challenge is how will we get the right information when that information is to be found outside the silos? Well, we get it by integrating across the organization, not across departments!”

To Learn More:

Download a PDF copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery.