The year is 2001. Collectively, we had just survived Y2K, the twin towers still stood in NYC, and pipeline
regulations were starting to be a flashpoint in the industry. What few realized is that pipeline safety –
and the definition of what “compliance” means to pipeline operators – would soon be transformed by a
confluence of events.
Fast forward to today. That very same pipeline regulator landscape is now very, very different…the
factors that affect pipeline safety have fundamentally changed. New factors – terrorism, natural
disasters, population density – have to be considered. New technologies (impacting in-line inspection
tools and pipeline locating techniques) have matured. High-profile incidents, near misses, and perceived
high risk construction projects have led news cycles and infiltrated water cooler conversations across
the country. Pipeline safety regulations have evolved, and with that evolution has come the need for
pipeline operators to know more about their assets than ever before. More importantly, initiatives like
Pipeline Safety Management Systems (PSMS) and revisions to existing reporting requirements are
forcing those operators to more thoroughly revisit their data management approach.
As a professional who has spent a career in the proverbial pipeline sandbox – always hoping to build
that better mousetrap in bringing geospatial technology to the forefront of pipeline data management –
I have seen firsthand how pipeline operators large and small adapt to this ever-changing regulatory
landscape. I know the investment required to succeed in this mission of improved asset management,
and it is not insignificant. Each new technology, for all the value and efficiency and insight offered,
requires a similarly voluminous serving of know-how to get “right”, and, as with any new technology in
any market, comes at a cost premium. But all that being true, there has been and remains to this day a
commitment to all of this within those companies; the cost is accepted and effort fully understood.
Enter the municipal utility. Typically not a private business, they are run by and for the citizens of the
town the utility serves, and paid for using taxes those same citizens pay. Often, the gas department in
these towns is nothing more than a part time “hat” the Public Works Director has to wear. Perhaps,
alternatively, it is an additional set of tasks picked up by the water department manager. For these
towns, there simply isn’t the option to absorb what would be the standard “buy in cost” for the types of
asset management solutions utilized by larger, private companies. Even if that money was somehow
available, there certainly is no staff to perform the work. In short, the commitment that helps keep the
wheels of progress turning for many pipeline operating companies simply does not – and likely will not
ever – exist for a municipal utility. This community had to reassess their approach to data management.
Whereas most pipeline operating companies generally develop their own GIS strategies based on a
variety of factors (existing processes, resource availability, partners, technology, etc.), a solution that
can work for municipal utilities must assume consistency among three foundational elements: data
creation; data analysis; and reporting. In the simplest terms, this means that City A and City B define a
gas main, riser, valve, leak, etc. similarly. This specific condition is achievable by using an industry
standard data model, which pre-defines the utility assets using a structure and naming convention that
can readily be used for government reporting and follows industry guidance on how pipeline
components are named and what attribution they carry.
Once this framework is established, the caring and feeding of this solution approach is cut-and-dried.
Because these operators now have a definition of what features “look like” in terms of the GIS, it
becomes very easy to extend those definitions into the actual workflow for the individuals executing the
work on a day-to-day basis. An easy way to demonstrate this is to consider the process one may use to
inspect and repair a leak. Historic practices would have a single report created when the leak was
reported, a second report created when the leak was inspected, and then a leak repair being entered
into yet another paper form. After the work was completed, each of these paper forms would have to
be consulted to enter the data into the GIS. Time was lost an opportunity for data entry errors was
created.
A modernized process would enable the creation of a single electronic form that one would use to
initiate the inspection, and within that same form any repairs can be identified in that one location, and
upon completion, the GIS would automatically load that repair into the GIS database. Rather than
spending time chasing down the data management, it becomes “baked in the cake” now as part of the
processes.
Beyond the obvious and immediate value gained by having more accurate asset information available,
there are far-reaching advantages to the onset of GIS usage at the city utility level. Using the GIS data for
other applications – such as planning of community growth or identifying where the new high school
football stadium could be built – offers countless opportunity to gain even more from the investment in
improved data management. This collective “community” approach of municipal utility operators
helping keep costs manageable makes sense, and allows those who serve these operators – service
providers and software developers alike – to continue to refine their offerings to better support the
goals and objectives of their clients, while satisfying the requirements that uplift pipeline safety.
Most importantly, it helps deliver on the commitment we, as an industry, must all have to ensure safe
and responsible operations for all pipeline companies, big and small, public or private, today and long
into tomorrow!
