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8.0 System Operations and Maintenance <br />Routine maintenance and infrastructure replacement is important for preventing system failures and <br />lowering the cost of system repairs. Replacement costs are assumed to be 1 % of capital costs per year <br />for watermain, 2% per year for wells and storage and about 3% per year for SCADA systems. <br />Analysis of specific operational maintenance needs based on the age and condition of existing <br />infrastructure is not within the scope of this study but is recommended as future work on this project. <br />Operational and maintenance needs of the six cities could be combined to provide efficiency and costs <br />savings. For example, the creation of a joint utility could eliminate the need for up to seven additional <br />wells. Since each well requires roughly $150,000 of rehabilitation work every 7-10 years, this leads to a <br />$1,000,000 reduction in maintenance costs over the same time span. This equates to about $100,000 <br />per year of well maintenance savings for the remaining life of the Joint Utility. Similar maintenance <br />savings would be seen for storage infrastructure. Combined fleets could also require fewer total <br />vehicles. Shared emergency equipment could reduce the overall need in this area as well. Shared staff <br />could also provide a reduction in cost. Finally, larger entities can pool their influence in bargaining for <br />price on certain bulk purchases. A larger system would provide cushion against disruption when taking <br />system components, such as wells or pumps, out of service. Operational and further maintenance <br />considerations should be analyzed in greater detail in future work. <br />Joint water Utility Feasibility Study 27 <br />