Government

Engineering

The Journal for Public Infrastructure

Large Utility to Plan and Coordinate Infrastructure Work

The Washington (MD) Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC)—the eighth largest water and wastewater utility in the country serving 1.8 million customers in a 1,000-sq mile area—maintains a network of nearly 5,400 miles of sewer pipeline and 5,500 miles of fresh water pipeline. Nearly 25 percent (about 1,380 miles) of its pipeline network is more than 50 years old, and is being upgraded by the utility. The WSSC has deployed Envista’s (www.envista.com) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, which it will use to manage thousands of miles of infrastructure.

“Coordinating our infrastructure renewal projects with the ongoing work of counties, municipalities, and other utilities has been very challenging,” states Marcia Tucker, Group Leader, Infrastructure Systems Group at WSSC. “Too often we arrive at a worksite where another government agency has just finished paving. We either have to repave a brand new road, which is costly and inconveniences residents, or we have to delay the project. We expect Envista to eliminate that problem by allowing us to coordinate our projects with others’ well in advance. Everyone will be more efficient and will share in the cost-saving.”

Envista’s map-driven system enables all parties to quickly view the locations of all infrastructure projects in their area and the related data. Users can respond quickly to conflicts, reduce needless street cuts, and pro-actively take advantage of work-share and cost-share opportunities to save time and ratepayers’ dollars. Envista subscribers leverage the real-time exchange of planning information to synchronize construction and maintenance projects for roadway and pipeline replacement projects.