The Future of Water Infrastructure Asset Management, Part 3: Breaking Down Organizational Silos as Barriers to Cost Savings

Experts suggest that water utility managers need to take effective steps to break down the organizational problems that prevent a utility from achieving cost savings and efficiency gains. Comprehensive asset management is one of the most important cost-saving measures for business transformation as people, processes, and technology are strategically aligned. Asset management goes beyond normal collaborative efforts and promises to bring a wide range of tangible and intangible benefits to every utility function. The inability to use these types of cost-reduction and synergistic practices exposes a utility to greater external pressure on rates and budgets. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and six national water and wastewater organizations achieve additional cost efficiencies by implementing such measures.