Moving forward with creating Asset Management and Operations & Maintenance Plans

The Urban Drainage Asset Management (UDAM) book is now published, thanks to a huge effort from authors all around the world, but the adventure is not yet complete. After going through all the chapters of this book, theoretically one should be able to set up a comprehensive system for UDAM. It is recognized by the authors however that, while in some places very detailed (scientific) information and introductions to literature for further study are provided, it is doubtful that one without any experience will be able to do so easily. Therefore, the authors, in collaboration with the members of the UDAM Working Group of the Joint Committee of Urban Drainage envision to publish a ‘living’ document with relevant checklists that practitioners may consider when creating their own Asset Management (AM) and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Plans. This living document will be found here.
This ‘living’ document is envisioned to provide a comprehensive, though digestible overview of ‘things to be done’ when starting from scratch in say, a small municipality or by a private asset owner who wants to create a professional system without relying on commercial products or proprietary software. As pointed out in Chapter 1 of this book, AM essentially boils down to being able to answer four basic questions:
1) What and where is the ‘thing’ I am responsible for?
2) What is the current functionality of the ‘thing’ I’m responsible for?
3) In what condition is the ‘thing’ I’m responsible for?
4) What do I do about the ‘thing’ and how do I do that?
For each element in the checklists, we intend to indicate to which of the four main questions the action or instrument suggested contributes and we provide references to parts in the book that relate to them.
This ‘living’ document and associated checklists reflect the combined knowledge (and, unfortunately, ignorance) of the authors and members of the UDAM Working Group. With that in mind, the authors welcome feedback from practitioners which can be provided at https://udam.home.blog/contact/ as well.