Most of the projects recommended in the previous sections have been focused on meeting the capacity needs of the City's overall water system. However, a few of the projects also address the rehabilitation or replacement of existing facilities due to age or condition related concerns. The purpose of this chapter is to further examine the recommended rehabilitation and replacement investment needed to sustainably maintain the City's water systems. This is not a comprehensive evaluation of system conditions, nor is it a complete asset management plan. Instead, it is a collection of general observations assembled during the master planning process and corresponding recommendations relative to system rehabilitation and replacement.
While it is beyond the scope of this study to identify a detailed list of all rehabilitation projects that will be required by the City, it is important that future financial planning include a sustainable budget that can be used for rehabilitation as specific projects are identified. One of the best ways to identify a recommended level of system renewal funding is to consider system service life. As with all utilities, each component of a water system has a finite service life. Therefore, it is necessary to continually spend money towards the rehabilitation or replacement of these components. If adequate funds are not set aside for regular system renewal, the water system will fall into a state of disrepair and be incapable of providing the level of service that customers expect.
The City's water conveyance system is composed of about 443 miles of pipe. The City has 14 existing culinary tanks that comprise 46.5 million gallons of storage. The City also has 4 wells connected to the culinary system and 4 booster pump stations. The total cost to replace all pipes, storage facilities, wells and booster pump stations in the City's water system would be approximately $1.1 billion based on 2022 construction costs.
Table 9-1 shows a comparison of the recommended annual budget for the City's water system based on the service life of various system components. As summarized in the table, it is recommended that the City's capital budget for the water system be between $13 million and $17 million to sustainably maintain the system. While some of this budget will need to go toward expansion and capacity projects as outlined in the previous chapter, a major portion should be reserved strictly for system rehabilitation and replacement.
System Component | Replacement Value | Service Life (years) | Recommended Annual System Investment Range | |
Pipes | $854,800,000 | 60 - 80 | $14,300,000 | $10,700,000 |
Storage | $160,425,000 | 80 - 100 | $2,100,000 | $1,700,000 |
Booster Pump Stations | $22,500,000 | 40 - 50 | $600,000 | $500,000 |
Wells (3,4,5,6,8) | $20,750,000 | 60 - 80 | $400,000 | $300,000 |
Total | $1,058,475,000 | $17,400,000 | $13,200,000 | |
The City has identified top areas to focus their rehabilitation and replacement efforts over the next several years, which include addressing lead and copper pipelines, fire flow improvements, asbestos cement (AC) pipe replacement, and condition related repairs.
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