Bishop Paiute Tribe
Achieving Sustainability Through a Preventative Maintenance Program
The Bishop Paiute Public Works Department (PWD) built a successful preventative maintenance program over
a ten-year period. PWD believes the program is a key aspect for a sustainable water and sewer system. The
preventative maintenance program goes beyond routine operations and maintenance of infrastructure assets
and includes tracking assets through GIS mapping, continually assessing assets and adequately training
operators to perform the necessary preventative maintenance duties.
Implementing a successful preventative maintenance program helped Bishop Paiute PWD strengthen their
technical capacity. PWD has a written operations and maintenance plan. PWD maintains an infrastructure asset
inventory that identifies each asset's location, age, condition and replacement cost. It maintains checklists of
activities including sanitary deficiencies identified during a sanitary survey to correct in a timely fashion. The
Department also maintains an up-to-date GIS mapping system and performs long-term maintenance activities
such as exercising valves, flushing dead-end mains, and inspecting and cleaning storage tanks. The preventative
maintenance program allows PWD to provide safe and affordable drinking water and reliable sewer service to
customers now and into the future.
Benefits
6 Improved maintenance of the water system helps avoid costly catastrophic failures through affordable
preventative maintenance actions.
4 Better understanding and management of system assets and their expected life spans by developing an
asset management plan and identifying maintenance activities based on the expected life, historical
knowledge and records of the assets.
4 Increased involvement in system maintenance by all staff and improved communications between staff.
4 Broader customer communication and increased community trust in the quality of the water.
Background
The Bishop Paiute Tribe, located at the base of
the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in Owens
Valley, is the fifth largest Tribe in California and
home to 2,000 members. The Tribe is a self-
governing sovereign nation with a deep
appreciation for the natural resources - land,
water and air. The Bishop Paiute PWD is
responsible for the operations and maintenance
of the community water and sewer systems, as
well as irrigation, the solid waste system and
tribal roads on the reservation. The department
serves approximately 2,800 customers including
transient customers (e.g. vacationing mobile
homes).

San Francisco
o
San Jose
Stanislaus
National Forest
Yosemite
National Park
Sierra National
Forest
f Bishop Paiute Reservation

Salinas
o
Monterey
Fresno
o
CALIFORNIA
O
Visalia
Sequoia
National Forest
Death Valley
National Park
Figure 1. Location of the Bishop Paiute Tribe.
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The staff at the Bishop Paiute PWD consist of a public works director, an administrative assistant, two operators,
a technician and temporary labor assistance. The water system consists of 6 domestic wells with a total capacity
of 3.2 million gallons per day (MGD), pumping stations with variable frequency drives for every 2 wells, 4 storage
tanks with a total capacity of 1.23 million gallons, 15.4 miles of water mains, and a chlorination system. PWD
also maintains the wastewater collection system, which consists of sewer mains and service lines. The treatment
plant, constructed by the Eastern Sierra Community Sewer District (ESCSD), treats the system's collected
wastewater. The Tribe assisted in funding the treatment plant through an agreement with Inyo County. With
the agreement, the Tribe has ownership of one-third of the capacity of the treatment plant (0.315 MGD) and
they pay $24,000 per month for capacity rights, however, PWD does not have operations and maintenance
responsibilities for the plant. PWD also maintains an irrigation system designed in the 1930's by the Bureau of
Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Preventative Maintenance Program
History and Current Activities
The inception of the preventative maintenance program for
Bishop Paiute PWD occurred around 2006. However, with staff
changes over the years, necessary activities were not being
performed. In 2015, an operator was hired and began to
restore the program to what it is today.
Daily, weekly and monthly checklists were established for
various activities to ensure they are completed and equipment
is properly maintained. Operators and technicians are
assigned preventative maintenance activities on a rotating
basis. Each operator and technician is assigned a specific day
for performing the activities. Any changes or modifications to
the procedure are documented to communicate the
information to the next operator who inspects or maintains
the asset. Operators also have weekly meetings to discuss
preventative maintenance activities.
Aside from daily operations and system checks such as
measuring chlorine levels and recording results, preventative
maintenance activities performed on a quarterly, semi-
annually or yearly basis include:
4 Exercising valves,
4 Flushing dead-ends using system hydrants,
4 Fluctuating storage levels in the winter months to prevent
freezing,
4 Inspecting and cleaning storage tanks,
4 Greasing bearings on booster pumps, and
4 Replacing mains to address leaks and breaks and reduce
water loss.
The Cost of Water and Sewer
Service
It is important for customers to know the
true cost to operate and maintain a
water and sewer system. Both systems
require well trained staff and the
necessary supplies and equipment for
operations and maintenance. In 2015,
PWD charged $35 per month per
household for water and sewer service.
Approximate annual costs to operate
and maintain the system were:
4 $111,000for water
4 $269,000for sewer
PWD has done their due diligence to
ensure customers receive the best
service at the lowest cost. An example is
the cost to operate and maintain the
sewer system (which includes a $24,000
per month payment to ESCSD). If PWD
were to build their own wastewater
treatment plant, IHS determined the
annual cost to maintain the plant would
be $1,000,000 per year.
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Daily maintenance activities are performed primarily by PWD staff. In addition, PWD also has access to a
contract operator or a "mobile mechanic." The operator has extensive technical expertise and can be called to
work on equipment as needed.
Successful Implementation of the Program
PWD hired a consultant to set up a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. The purpose of the database
is to input and track assets (date installed, maintenance activities, etc.) as part of developing an asset
management plan. To enhance this tool, the Indian Health Service (IHS) provided funding to PWD to purchase an
asset locator. It is used to locate buried infrastructure such as mains and valves and to provide position
coordinates for above-ground infrastructure such as tanks, wells, pumps stations and hydrants. This tool will
allow PWD to accurately map the assets in their water and sewer systems and to continue to input data into the
GIS database.
Collaborative Nature of the Program
All PWD staff are involved in the preventative maintenance
program. New staff are trained by experienced operators to
correctly perform daily preventative maintenance activities. In
addition, all staff obtain additional training, typically through
technical assistance providers serving the area. Classes related to
distribution systems often focus on preventative maintenance
activities, backflow prevention testing, and operating and
maintaining altitude valves.
PWD also collaborates extensively with IHS in the Reno, NV area.
IHS assisted PWD in obtaining a supervisory control and data
acquisition1 (SCADA) supplier to install their SCADA system. The
supplier provided extensive training and continued phone support
for PWD staff on how to operate the SCADA system and use the
data.
Community Outreach
A PWD operator developed an Instagram account
(@tribal_irrigator) as a means of educating and informing
consumers about preventative maintenance and other PWD-
related activities. The operator posts PWD information to
communicate PWD public meeting dates, water restriction
effective dates, and pictures of operators performing maintenance
activities.
Program Successes
The Bishop Paiute PWD has had many successes from
implementing the preventative maintenance program. Some of the
successes include:
4 Obtaining high IHS scores for preventative maintenance
activities for both water and sewer, which contributes to
ranking the system for funding of capital projects (see inset),
Sanitation Deficiency System
(SDS) O&M Capability Scoring
The Bishop Paiute PWD receives the
highest scores from IHS for
preventative maintenance-related
activities for water and wastewater
systems. Those activities include:
4 maintaining a written
schedule and records of
completion for preventative
maintenance tasks,
4 maintaining records on daily
operations (meter readings,
pump hours, chlorine
analysis, etc.),
4 keeping sufficient spare parts
and supplies on hand to
replace failing equipment or
to make necessary repairs,
4 maintaining as-builts and
system maps, and
4 achieving at least 10 hours
per year of training for each
operator.
This score is a factor in obtaining
funding for capital projects.
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4 Developing and implementing processes that promote clear communication and strong recordkeeping to
easily rotate activities between operators,
4 Enhancing professional development opportunities for staff through training and providing leadership
opportunities for experienced staff,
4 Addressing findings from sanitary surveys in a timely fashion, which enables PWD to maintain compliance
with applicable regulations, and
4 Using social media for community outreach to increase buy-in and improve communication with customers.
Overcoming Challenges
With every program, utilities must overcome challenges to maintain
their success. PWD anticipates growth in their customer base and
increased future water and sewer system demands. This requires
proactive planning by PWD as maintenance of existing assets becomes
even more critical to ensure continued reliable service to customers.
PWD also acknowledges the limitations of the program. While
preventative maintenance and asset management helps prevent or
minimize potential system failures, utilities still need to anticipate some
large infrastructure maintenance and replacement projects overtime.
Also, having enough staff to conduct routine maintenance and perform
more in-depth maintenance projects is a constant struggle due to
limited budgets and staff turnover.
Lessons Learned and Looking to the Future
The Bishop Paiute PWD has developed a robust, effective preventative
maintenance program that save money now and into the future by
preventing catastrophic infrastructure failures and improving routine
operations. Performing maintenance activities on a regular basis
ensures the water and sewer systems are proactively maintained.
Developing the GIS database to track and manage assets will provide
PWD with additional knowledge of their systems' components. It also
provides the data to help identify historical trends and anticipate
infrastructure end-of-useful-life timeframes. PWD has learned that
accurate and complete documentation is critical to a successful
program. In addition, implementation of a strong records
management plan and maintaining digital records has streamlined the
data evaluation process and makes data collection on infrastructure photo Credit: David Weaverfrom Bishop Paiute Tribe
assets more effective.
v>EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA 810-R-20-007
MARCH 2019

Figure 2. Replacing an old gate valve that had been leaking.
Photo Credit: David Weaver from Bishop Paiute Tribe
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