Dealing with Recent Weather Patterns And Aging Water Infrastructure is “New Normal”

New Jersey American Water’s Chiavari Testifies to NJ Clean Water Council About Company Lessons from Sandy Response

VOORHEES, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– New Jersey American Water Vice President for Engineering Suzanne Chiavari joined New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin and other speakers testifying before the New Jersey Clean Water Council today to provide an overview of the water infrastructure damage from recent storms, including Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, and discuss water system resiliency and planning issues.

“Except in rare instances, our customers do not lose water service during storm events because we build our water storage tanks to act as buffers, and provide standby power for critical facilities, and we build our critical assets above 100-year flood elevations, while adding flood protection for older facilities as needed,” said Chiavari. Nonetheless, Chiavari told the council that recent weather storms such as Irene and Sandy, combined with the issue of aging water infrastructure are causing the company to review traditional planning and design criteria. “This new normal has led us to look beyond traditional reliability and emergency planning into a world that needs the speed of recovery and resiliency for much more widespread events,” she said.

Chiavari shared eight key learning points from New Jersey American Water‘s experience in Superstorm Sandy related to water system resiliency, which she told the Council needs to be a high priority in the state.

1. A large network of resources improves resiliency: Through parent company American Water‘s national network, New Jersey American Water was able to tap into a large quantity of qualified staff, vendor relationships, materials, equipment and contractors.
2. Asset Management Systems are critical for preparedness: “You need to know what assets you have, where they are located, what is their maintenance history, spare parts inventory and the condition of these assets,” said Chiavari. Systems such as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and CMMS (computerized maintenance management systems) provide the utility with information at their fingertips instead of having to hunt for records in file drawers or remote storage.
3. Planning and Risk Assessment are also critical for preparedness: “We have a robust asset management program that starts with comprehensive master planning for each …read more

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