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Water Campaign™ case study

HORNSBY SHIRE COUNCIL, NEW SOUTH WALES

Lifecycle asset management for stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets

: Community action

: Corporate action

: Water quality

A print version of this case study is available to download. [PDF document, 430KB]

Hornsby Shire Council, New South Wales, is located approximately 23 kilometres north west of the Sydney CBD, and has a population of 158,285. Council has been a participant in the Water Campaign™ since 2002 and an ICLEI member since 2001.

Synopsis

: Constructed Wetlands – Madison Rd, Hornsby Shire

Hornsby Shire Council has adopted a Lifecycle Asset Management approach to manage all of Council’s stormwater and water quality assets. This approach ensures that Council has planned for the realistic operation and maintenance of stormwater and water quality infrastructure into the future.

Lifecycle management extends asset lifespan by applying appropriate maintenance strategies at optimal stages of the asset’s deterioration.

In utilising a lifecycle management approach Council has determined a schedule of works and costs. The results indicate that after 2016/17, Council will focus on operating and maintenance costs rather than the purchase of new stormwater and water quality infrastructure.

Background

In 1994 Hornsby Shire Council adopted a Catchment Remediation Rate (CRR). Currently, 50% of CRR funding is allocated to on-ground capital remediation works and subsequent routine maintenance of all constructed devices.

Current remedial environmental protection works being undertaken in Hornsby Shire include:

design and construction of wetlands, gross pollutant traps and stormwater interception devices
leachate control from old landfill sites
installation of sediment basins
creek stabilisation and rehabilitation.

Council has installed 355 such devices, ranging from wetlands to pit inserts, which removed approximately 1322 cubic metres of sediment, litter and organic material from local waterways during 2006/07.

The total cost for Council to maintain its water quality assets and adjacent landscaped areas in 2006/07 was approximately $249,000.

Council’s Catchments Remediation Program aims to improve the quality of stormwater in Hornsby Shire through a combination of capital and non-capital (or operational) projects.

Motivation

Under Hornsby Shire Council’s Catchment Remediation Program, Council has a financial and environmental obligation to ensure capital infrastructure continues to function efficiently and effectively throughout its operational life.

The program’s overall objective is to gain the best possible environmental outcome that science can deliver for the creeks and receiving waters of Hornsby Shire, while ensuring the program is financially responsible.

Council is also concerned with the demands of Sydney’s urban population expansion and the resulting financial implications in providing more facilities and infrastructure to cope with population increases.

Council strongly believes that strategic asset management and long-term financial plans will enable it to respond to future maintenance and renewal requirements of capital assets over the longer term.

To meet these environmental and financial objectives, Council adopted the Lifecycle Asset Management approach for their stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets, and formalised the results in their Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan.

Process

: Constructed Creek through residential land – Upper Devlins Creek,Hornsby Shire

Lifecycle asset management

Lifecycle asset management refers to the operation and maintenance activities of Council’s stormwater and water quality assets.

Lifecycle management also takes into account the future renewal and replacement costs of current assets.

Renewal work is the substantial replacement of the asset, or a significant asset component, to its original size and capacity. Replacements are those projects that aim to extend or upgrade the assets in order to cater for growth or to maintain or improve levels of service.

A key element of asset management planning is to determine the most cost effective mix of planned maintenance in order to reduce unplanned and costly replacement of assets.

Council adopted a process to consider all operations and maintenance activities of the stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets. Operations are those activities that have no effect on asset condition but are necessary to keep the asset appropriately utilised. Maintenance is the day-to-day work required to keep assets operating at agreed service levels and can be planned (proactive) or unplanned (reactive).

In addition to the expense of operations and maintenance, Council considered renewal work and replacement costs associated with the assets.

When the financial forecast for water quality assets was projected over the next 20 years the results indicated that in approximately 10 years the opportunity for new capital works across Hornsby Shire will decline, resulting in a simultaneous exponential increase in operational and renewal costs.

Development of the Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan

Council recognises the need for cost effective asset management and, based on the work undertaken, has developed asset management plans for all asset categories.

The financial forecast for water quality assets, projected over the next 20 years, was documented in the Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan 2006, which formalises the process for the financial and physical requirements of Council’s stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets.

The plan demonstrates responsible stewardship in the management of stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets and how such management practices will achieve council objectives.

Council’s Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan 2006 identifies the following for Hornsby Shire Council’s stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets:

the future service delivery funding requirements for the adopted levels of service
the predicted future demand for infrastructure
the current performance of assets
the level of risk of asset failure
likely works required
funding constraints.

Further lifecycle analysis of assets

: Net Tech device – Hornsby Shire

In 2007 Council’s Environment Division undertook further detailed lifecycle analysis of existing and future water quality assets. Numerous lifecycle scenarios were run, looking at total maintenance and renewal costs versus Catchment Remediation Rate (CRR) income.

Running a scenario reflecting the expenditure for the proposed 10-year capital works program illustrated the need for cessation of new capital works by 2016/17. Council can be confident that CRR income will more than cover anticipated increases in maintenance and renewal costs.

Detailed lifecycle projections were made to the year 2056, including the identification of all current assets, projected lifecycle and renewal costs of individual assets, and annual maintenance costs. Very conservative assumptions were made to ensure that the proposed future capital works program was financially sustainable. The renewal and projected maintenance costs were set at a high level to allow for unforeseen circumstances or unpredictable rises in costs.

Savings and benefits

Financial benefits

Planning for the realistic operation and maintenance costs of stormwater and water quality infrastructure means that Council will not reach a situation where it cannot effectively maintain its assets. This will ensure that the money invested in the capital outlay of the assets is used effectively and efficiently.

Another financial benefit of the approach undertaken is that funding for repairs will already have an approved budget within Council’s asset management plans. Savings will be achieved by optimising the whole of lifecycle costs of these capital assets.

In yet another example of financial savings, organic waste collected from stormwater quality management devices is currently being stockpiled at a council recycling facility in preparation of drying, sorting and reuse. As well as being an environmentally sustainable action, Council saved approximately $90,000 in disposal costs during 2005/06.

Water quality benefits

: Constructed Creek through residential land – Hornsby Shire

With Council’s water quality control assets operating at their optimum capacity, thousands of tonnes of pollutants have been prevented from entering the waterways of Hornsby Shire. This has resulted in fewer incidents of water pollution and algal blooms, and has helped preserve the health of downstream aquatic environments.

Community and social benefits

The community and social benefits of lifecycle asset management of Council’s stormwater and water quality assets include:

promotion of recreational fishing, boating and a healthier lifestyle
promotion of a vibrant tourism industry in the shire’s waterways
management of the risks of asset failure minimising inconveniences to the community.

Costs

The Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan and financial analyses were developed within Council by the Asset Branch, Works Division and the Water Catchments Team, Environment Division.

The stormwater and water quality infrastructure assets total approximately $125.1 million and include conduits (pipes, open channels, culverts), pits, flood mitigation measures (detention basins, overland flow paths), natural watercourses (creeks) and stormwater quality improvement structures (wetland ponds, sediment basins, gross pollutant traps and infiltration systems).

Lessons learnt

The lessons Council learnt through the development and implementation of this initiative include:

Asset management systems, processes and plans are essential elements to assist Council in its general management and long-term planning of infrastructure assets.
Development of the Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan was a lengthy process, especially as the plan required consultation and collaboration between various teams within Council.
The Asset Management Plan should integrate with Council’s planning processes and core service activities and be flexible to allow for regular review.
Stormwater drainage assets are not expected to be disposed over the 20-year planning period. However, renewals and upgrades should be taken into account in budgeting capital expenditure, based on deterioration predictions and technological changes, particularly for water quality improvement assets.

Further information

For further information on catchments remediation assets management, please contact:

David Beharrell
Team Leader, Catchment Remediation
Hornsby Shire Council
Ph: +61 2 9847 6860
Fax: +61 2 9847 6598

Hornsby Shire Council website

Contact details

For further information about the ICLEI Water Campaign™ in Australia please contact:

ICLEI Oceania
4/267 Collins St
Melbourne Vic 3000
Ph: +61 3 9639 8688
Fax: +61 3 9639 8677
Email: oceania@iclei.org
Website: www.iclei.org/oceania/water

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Katie Clarke, Branch Administrator – Water Catchments Team and Ross McPherson, Manager – Water Catchments Team, Hornsby Shire Council, for the information provided and their assistance. Photographs supplied by Council.

This case study was produced with the support of funding from the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources.

Quoted population figures are taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Report 3218.0, Regional Population Growth, Australia 2006-07, March 2008.

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