Effective Condition Assessment: Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission’s Industry Leading PCCP Management Program

America’s alarming infrastructure gap has been well documented and publicized. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) is among the largest water and wastewater utilities in the U.S. and is of course not immune to the issue. WSSC serves over 1.8 million residents of Montgomery and Prince George’s County through over 5,700 miles of potable water pipes. The backbone of the water system is 145 miles of large diameter (36-inch and greater) prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP). WSSC top priorities are to provide safe and reliable water to their customers, protect public safety, and conducting a sustainable PCCP Inspection and Condition Assessment Program. The high economic and social costs of a full-scale, large-diameter pipe replacement program has led WSSC to embrace a condition assessment as part of their asset management program. WSSC’s PCCP management program was started nearly 10 years ago and is widely recognized as the industry leader. Since its inception, the program has evolved from a conventional condition assessment and engineering approach to an integrated, near-real-time pipeline monitoring, and management system. This system has been built upon an online GIS based management system of the large inspection data sets (including live monitoring data) and engineering analysis allowing WSSC to manage their transmission mains in a dynamic manner. WSSC’s data management system goes deeper than the conventional node-to-node (valves, appurtenances, etc.) resolution and drives down to an individual pipe-by-pipe basis, allowing for detailed and direct analysis of each individual pipe in a pipeline. Automated alerts and up-to-date reporting have been incorporated into the online GIS based management system providing WSSC almost instantaneous access to all its pipeline information. This paper will discuss the program’s technical evolution and current approach, as well as the operational and management challenges of executing such an extensive system condition assessment program. Nearly every department within WSSC is essential to the program’s effectiveness. The collaboration between such a diverse group of stakeholders, with a corresponding range of competing projects and focuses, is a primary challenge of the program, but also a primary ingredient for the program’s success. Other key ingredients include a dedication to innovation (and the associated critical analysis that comes with new approaches), establishing strong processes but remaining opportunistic, and valuing a “boots-on-the-ground” assessment of their assets. The paper will also share lessons learned by WSSC’s engineers in managing its condition assessment program. WSSC will also discuss their visions to maintain their position as industry leaders for another 10 years!