United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
CASE STUDY
South Placer Municipal Utility District
Collection System Asset Management
Program
Overview
With increasing pressure to meet state and federal regulatory requirements, eliminate sanitary
sewer overflows (SSO's), and prevent discharges to waters of the United States, municipalities
have a growing obligation to manage their aging infrastructure with limited budget and
resources. Asset management planning is an essential tool in maintaining levels of service for
water and wastewater systems.
In 2006, the California State Water Resources Control Board adopted a Statewide General Waste
Discharge Requirements for Sanitary Sewer Systems (General Permit). In order to anticipate and
justify current and projected costs of complying with federal, state and local regulations, and
effectively manage its collection system, the South Placer Municipal Utility District (District)
has elected to develop an asset management program.
Background
The District operates a satellite sanitary sewer system
made up of approximately 255 miles of sanitary sewer
pipe with 5,800 mainlines and manholes and 14 lift
stations. The collection system discharges to the City
of Roseville's Pleasant Grove and Dry Creek
wastewater treatment plants. Since forming in 1956,
the District has grown from 452 connections then to the
current 22,600 connections. Thus, the District has had
to adjust management of the system as it has evolved
from a small- to medium-sized system.
AEPA


\
South Placer MUD
By the Numbers...
Population



72,000
gg

Area
31 Square Miles
MMiW

SOUTH PLACER 1
MUNICIPAL IJTIIJTY DISTRICT |

Miles of Sewer Lines


255 Miles

>

-------
As required by the General Permit, the District adopted a Sewer System Management Plan
(SSMP) in August 2009, and updated it in August 2014, to facilitate proper funding and
management of the collection system. The District's asset management program is critical to
achieving the stated goals of the SSMP.
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)
The District developed a custom CMMS, the Waste Water Management System (WWMS), in
1989 to maintain system data and produce work orders. The WWMS has extensive reporting
capabilities that allow for data analysis used for condition assessment, predictive maintenance,
and prioritization of work. The District also utilizes a geographical information system (GIS)
mapping system that includes information for its collection system assets.
Although the WWMS has been an integral part of the District's asset management program, the
needs of the District have changed as the District has grown. Thus, the District is currently
upgrading to a new CMMS that will integrate information from the District's various databases,
including asset attribute and work order data, GIS data, closed-circuit television (CCTV)
inspection data, and hydraulic modeling information. The District will use the new CMMS to
assign activities to assets, bundle repair/rehabilitation/repair projects into capital improvement
projects, generate reports, and geographically display data.
Condition Assessment Process
As part of the asset management program, the District implements a condition assessment
process to evaluate mainline pipes (all collection, trunk, and interceptor pipes), for the purpose of
determining condition and identifying problems to be addressed. The process is designed to
narrow the District's focus to only those pipes that may require repair or increased maintenance.
The District has developed a defect rating system with a scale of 1 (slight) to 3 (severe). The
District enters defect ratings into the WMMS, and is able to generate reports by rating and type
(e.g., roots, cracks, offset joints, infiltration and inflow, and misaligned pipe). Using rating
information, the District is able to identify problem line segments and prioritize repairs. For
example, the District typically only repairs defects rated as "1" in conjunction with repairs rated
"2" or "3" located in the general vicinity, whereas any defect rated a "3" is immediately
evaluated and considered for repair.
Once a line segment is identified as a candidate for some action, the District evaluates CCTV
inspection records, work order history (e.g., past blockages/sanitary sewer overflows, past repair
work), line cleaning history, high frequency cleaning for identified "hot spots", institutional
knowledge, asset age, and their System Evaluation and Capacity Assurance Plan (SECAP) to
determine the appropriate course of action. The District reviews the SECAP to determine if and
when upsizing is required, and conducts a cost analysis to decide whether to upsize or
rehabilitate the affected asset. Using the CCTV inspection reports, the District considers the
number, type, and proximity of defects on a line segment. Significant and/or multiple defects on
a line segment may suggest that rehabilitationg the entire pipe will be more cost-effective than
multiple point-repairs.

-------
Funding and Planning
The District develops an annual Repair and Rehabilitation (R&R) Plan and a 5-year Capital
Improvement Plan (CIP) to ensure adequate funding support and resources for sustaining long-
term asset management. The R&R Plan is funded through maintenance and operations revenue,
collected through monthly service charges, and is used for maintenance-related work to improve
functionality, reduce maintenance, and reduce the probability of failure of an asset. The CIP is
funded through depreciation revenue, also collected through monthly service charges, and local
participation charges from developers. The CIP is used for replacement of pipes that have
reached or exceeded their uesful life and cannot perform their designed function identified
through the condition assessment process, and for upsizing pipes based on results of the SECAP.
Successes
SPMUD Employees per
Miles of Pipe
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013
Source: South Placer Municipal Utility District
Through their asset management program,
the District has been able to meet regulatory
requirements and effectively and efficiently
manage their system as the service area has
grown. The District maintains an average
spill rate well below the regional and state
averages. Having utilized the WMMS for
almost 25 years, the District has generated a
substantial dataset for their system, which
the District has used to identify hot spots
within the system and generate a routine
maintenance program. The District has been able to better identify the level of effort required to
perform all functions and tasks required to propely manage its collection system and is able to
program and prioritize work in an efficient manner, which has allowed the District to improve
the ratio of employees to miles of pipe by approximatey 10% per year.
For More Information on the South Placer Municipal Utility District:
South Placer Municipal Utility District
5807 Springview Drive
Rocklin, CA 95677
Phone: (916) 786-8555
www.spmud.ca.gov
To access the SSMP, visit: http://spmud.ca.gov/about-us/sanitary-sewer-management-plan-ssmp/
Publication Information:
Prepared by:
PG Environmental, LLC
570 Herndon Parkway, Suite 500
Herndon, VA 20170
On behalf of:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9
Water Division
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105

-------