Published in 19 de October de 2017
Who is looking after the network to get water every day to our home faucets?
The industrial or domestic user, when opening a valve or a faucet to cool a machine or to shower, wants to get water. Behind this daily action there is a lot of people involved that, from the capture, to the treatment, to the later distribution and sanitation, it must work. That is why there must be a good management of the assets that make up this scenario.
What is meant by the management of assets?
All the elements (pipes, lifting pumps, reagent dossiers, continuous analysers, pumping pits, tanks, etc.) that are part of the water cycle are considered active, and must be kept in good condition by guarantee the water in the taps and return it healthy to the river for its reuse. Years ago, the concept of asset management was not usual, it was considered only maintenance of assets, and this, like the fire department, was to “quench fires”, that is, to repair the breakdowns that were coming out, and little else.
Now (and we go back to the years 2000-2004), Aigües de Manresa is committed to making this management of the assets in balance between guaranteeing the operation and the cost it entails. Thus, it provided the maintenance team of the time of tools to be able to prevent these assets, a computer program that recorded the breakdowns, as well as a preventive maintenance plan. At the same time, all this information would allow us, as it has been, to move forward in investments to the most problematic sites or assets.
Today, the asset management team is made up of 31 people, including technicians and operators who, apart from managing 7,074 assets and 27 distribution networks, also make up a work team available 24 hour a day, 365 days a year, to solve the incidents that may leave outside the working days and hours.
If we look at it with data of breakdowns and preventive actions, in 2016, on a global scale, we saw that they were carried out:
– 7,949 maintenance and preventive actions of electro-mechanical equipment;
– 1,768 maintenance actions on the net and committed.
Therefore, when you open the tap and leave it to water, remember that behind you there is a team of professionals who watch out for it to always be this way, and in case there isn’t water, do not despair and think that there are a working team trying to repair or improve the assets.
Josep Mª Zaragoza, manager of assets management of Aigües de Manresa
