1. Operations and Maintenance Planning
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2. Acknowledgement:
EPA National Priority Area 1: Training and Technical Assistance for Small Public Water Systems to Achieve and Maintain Compliance with the SDWA, EPA Grant – X
RCAP developed this presentation under an EPA contract.
Jeff Oxenford led the development. Any questions, comments, or corrections to the module contact Jeff at (720) or

3. Assistance Partnership
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RCAP is a non-profit organization providing training and technical assistance to rural communities & tribes on drinking water, wastewater, and solid waste issues.
We have approximately 160 field staff, including certified operators and professional engineers.  Our staff members have expertise in drinking water and wastewater treatment & operations, utility financing, management, & general administration.
We work in all 50 states, plus five U.S. territories. 
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4. Why develop an O&M plan?
Scenario 1 - You go on vacation (you don’t have a cell phone), the chlorinator goes down …
In this scenario, if you or the operator in responsible charge happen to be away from the plant – what happens if … An O&M plan can be used by a back-up operator to troubleshoot what to do.
Facilitator NOTE: I often ask, how many people feel like they can't go on vacation or leave their plant for an extended period of time? In one class, we had a few operators that said they had no back-up. After discussion, they ended up exchanging phone numbers to cross train on their facilities.

5. Scenario 2 – You measure chlorine residual, and something seems off...
Records, recording keeping, and knowing your system is essential. First question – what should your residual be? Does it vary and why? Has your flow changed? Collecting and managing operational data will help you troubleshoot and diagnose a problem.

6. Scenario 3 – You have a main break and go to shut off a valve, but can’t operate the valve
This scenario gets at maintenance. Are you maintaining your system such that you can respond in an emergency.
Anyone have this happen? In a number of surveys, typically 40-60% of systems valves are inoperable or cannot be located. Preventative maintenance needs to be included as part of your operating plan.

7. Why do you need an O&M plan?
Knowledge retention –information documented
Consistency – Procedures are done the same way and repeatable
Data and records – Information for diagnosing and trouble shooting
Sustainability – Short and long term activities to maintain your facility
An O&M plan meets many needs. One that is receiving a lot of attention recently is knowledge retention. Operators gain a ton of information on what works and what doesn’t work for their facility. Without documentation this can easily be lost.
Documented procedures also improves consistency of operation. Procedures along with data on how the system should perform is needed to diagnose problems.
Finally, procedures should consider the long term. What type maintenance is needed so that the plant works into the future.

8. Required? O+M plans are required by some states
Delegation of tasks – Operating procedures are needed before you can delegate a task
Sanitary surveys often looks for an operating procedure (minor deficiency)

9. Questions Is an O&M plan required for your facility?
Do you have an O&M Plan?
Was your O+M plan developed by your staff or an outside consultant?
When was the last time the O+M plan revised?
The questions get at – what interaction has operators had with the O+M plan. Did they help create it? Did they revise it? If operators aren’t using or adding to an O+M plan, maybe they consider doing so.

10. What’s the difference between - Operations, maintenance, repair
Operations – Running the system
Maintenance – Keeping the system in working conditions
Repair (major/minor) – Fixing when its broken
It’s important to recognize the distinction between these components. We added repair in as a separate item because it falls in between operations and maintenance.

11. What gets done? When you are time limited, what gets done?
Routine operations
Repair (major/minor)
Preventative maintenance
If you don’t plan for it, preventative maintenance often gets left off. Minor repairs, also may not be addressed. You need to run your system and do long term maintenance.

12. Operational modes Routine Preventative maintenance
Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually tasks
Preventative maintenance
Seasonal (or other significant demand changes)
Emergency
You also need to consider changes in operation and other modes. Some operations plans only look at routine operations, however, emergencies (power outages, floods, etc) can also change your operations. Seasonal and other changes can impact your facility.
Therefore, operations plan needs to consider routine and non-routine aspects.

13. So what should go into an O&M plan?
* Requirements vary by state, so be sure to identify your state requirements

14. So what should go into an O&M plan?
General system overview
Contact Lists
Process descriptions (source, treatment, distribution)
Operations

15. Other components that can be include or stand-alone
Emergency response plans
Monitoring plan
Communications plan
Safety plan
Asset management plan
* Check with your primacy agency
A variety of other plans can be included along with the O&M plan. These can be done together or as stand alone documents.
A point to stress, O+M plans are one portion of planning that should be done by a utility. In a very small system, you can incorporate all planning aspects into your O&M plan. In larger facility, you will probably have a number of standalone plans.

16. Overview of plan components

17. 1. General system information
System Name
PWSID #
Location/ Address
Date Prepared
Date to be updated
Owner (contact info)
Operator in Responsible Charge
System type (CWS, NTNC, TNC)
Population Served
Production Volume
Average
Peak capacity
Minimum flow
This is often the cover page or first page of a plan. This is quick reference material. In most cases this should be easy to obtain. This information is very valuable to have handy for emergencies and talking with outside parties.

18. 2. Contact lists Utility Contacts Regulatory Emergency
Vendors and supplies
Contact lists are very important and a huge time saver. KEY – They quickly become out of date as people change jobs or move to new positions. Keep them updated.
An example contact list is provided.
Knowing who to contact during an emergency can save time, money, and protect your public. This can include police, fire, radio and TV.
Include your vendors and suppliers. During the 2013 flood in Colorado, a utility had contact information for road sign and barricade suppliers. They were able to quickly obtain all the signs and cones they needed. Other utilities (without this information) found a short supply by the time they found contact info.

19. 3. Process descriptions
Develop a high level description of your facility
Source, Treatment, Distribution, Storage
Have system/ process maps
It’s important to have a general description of your facility that describes all key components. For asset management plans this is considered your asset inventory.

20. Sources Identify all sources Location ID# Gage level/ Critical level
Characteristics
Identify all water sources and general characteristics of the source. Develop measures that can help you understand changes in availability or quality. For example, water are your critical levels? If temperature changes, can you expect a change in quality?

21. Treatment Identify processes and develop a process flow diagram.
Process flow diagrams are help to understand how your plant works.

22. Treatment process documentation
Equipment
Start-up
Normal operation
Shut-down
Preventive maintenance
Corrective maintenance
Spare parts
Monitoring/ process control
Record keeping
A variety of components should be documented for treatment. For many plants, an O+M manual is provided by the design engineer. This is a great reference manual. For equipment, you often have manuals. Where are these stored? Ideally you would have back-ups for manuals in a second location.

23. Distribution Map of the distribution system Entry point Sampling sites
Description of key components
Pipe diameter, materials
Valves, hydrants, booster stations, PRVs
Critical facilities
Preventative maintenance
Maps of your distribution system are essential. Knowing where things are is especially important as things change over time or during an emergency.
We’ve heard many stories of operators leaving who knew where key valves were located.

24. Storage Identify all storage facilities
Inspection frequency and checklists
Critical levels

25. Activity Select one area (source, treatment, distribution, storage)
Draw the area and select one process
Describe how you operate this process
Start-up/ shut down
Monitor how it works
Routine, long-term maintenance

26. 4. Operations of key processes
Operator rounds
Operations logs/ checklists
Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually
Preventative maintenance logs
Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
There are a number of approaches for documenting operating processes. One of the simplest is to develop a list of what you do for operator rounds This should include daily, weekly … or other frequency tasks. What’s really important to include in this are routine forms/ spreadsheets where you collect operational data, gage readings, monitoring results. The key is to determine –
Are your processes under control?
Has something changes?
Do you need to take any action?
Preventative maintenance logs can be considered part

27. Develop a checklist or tool that works for you

28. Example daily checklist
Daily Tasks
Task
Description
Initials
Sampling
Check and record chlorine residuals at point of application
Check and record chlorine residuals in the distribution system

29. Identify operations for key processes
Who’s responsible
Routine
Maintenance
Preventative
Performance indicator
Chlorination
Treatment operator 1
Inspect equipment
Check and record level
Inspect and clean injection points
0.5 mg/L to 2.0 mg/L

30. https://www. dep. state. fl

32. Example log sheet

34. Example Preventative Maintenance Log
Category
Suggested frequency
Service (date)
Service
(date)
Well/Source Water
Clean and Inspect Wellhead, Pump, Control, Vent
Monthly
Check and record static and draw down levels in well
Weekly

36. Standard operating procedures

37. The Need for SOPs Consistency Continuity (capture knowledge)
Productivity
Safety
Training

38. What SOPs are needed
Tasks that are performed routinely (Save time, money)
Tasks that are performed by more than one operator (consistency)
By one person (knowledge retention)

39. Tasks that are performed infrequently (Don’t forget how to do an annual tasks)
Critical/ high consequence tasks (safety, protect public health)

40. 1. SOP Templates Required information Sometimes required Nice to have
Don’t include
Innovative formats?

41. Required Information
Consistent header – Title, Contact, Dates, Document location, etc.
Purpose – Background or Objective
Safety issues – unique to the SOP
Procedure – Step-by-step
Resources

42. Sometimes required Operating limits and response
Roles – Authorized persons
Documentation – Data forms, record keeping requirements, etc.
Equipment

43. Nice to have Disclaimer Tips, troubleshooting, lessons learned
Historical info
Visual aids (Tables, flowcharts, symbols)
Links to other SOPs/documents
Humor
Review and distribution

44. Don’t include Policies or procedures that are general in nature
Lengthy program descriptions that are recorded elsewhere

46. Other components that can be included in your O&M plan or stand-alone

47. Other components that can be included in your O&M plan or stand-alone
Emergency response plans
Monitoring plan
Communications plan
Safety plan
Asset management plan
* Check with your primacy agency
A variety of other plans can be included along with the O&M plan. These can be done together or as stand alone documents.
A point to stress, O+M plans are one portion of planning that should be done by a utility. In a very small system, you can incorporate all planning aspects into your O&M plan. In larger facility, you will probably have a number of standalone plans.