AlexRenew Boosts Operational Efficiency
Recently, AlexRenew, the wastewater authority serving Alexandria, Virginia, implemented new asset management software and modified internal processes to help modernize its operations. The upgrade is an example of what the authority’s leadership describes as a transformation of its asset management process rooted in risk and proactive maintenance.
Background
AlexRenew operates and maintains the sewage treatment system serving a population of about 300,000 for the City of Alexandria and a large portion of Northern Virginia’s Fairfax County.
Annually, AlexRenew’s state-of-the-art wastewater facility treats more than 13 billion gallons of wastewater. It sits on just under 35 acres and is designed to treat an average daily flow of 54 million gallons per day (MGD) – up to 116 MGD during wet weather events. AlexRenew also reuses water on-site to run its equipment.
AlexRenew also oversees the $615 million RiverRenew program, a massive effort to remediate a portion of Alexandria’s sewer system, which dates back to the late 1800s. The program is the largest construction project in the city’s history, and involves the remediation of four outfalls in Alexandria that currently discharge rainwater and sewage into rivers and streams during rain events. To accomplish this, crews have built a 130-ft-deep, two-mile-long tunnel system and about 2,500 ft of new interceptor pipe. AlexRenew is also making significant upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant that will allow combined sewer flows to be pumped to the surface and treated at its facilities.
Once operational, the tunnel system will prevent millions of gallons of stormwater and sewage from reaching the Potomac River and other local tributaries. Tunnel construction portion of the project is now complete and AlexRenew is currently wrapping up construction on its pump station and superstructure. The full system is expected to come online by spring of 2026.
Managing Assets
With the RiverRenew program nearing completion, and AlexRenew’s assets now approaching $2 billion, the authority has taken the opportunity to implement some new asset management initiatives.
General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Justin Carl, notes that while AlexRenew appears to take on major transformational projects every 20 years – with RiverRenew being the latest –proactive asset management has not always been at the forefront of organizational conversations.
“Because AlexRenew has existed in a constant state of change there have not always been resources available to focus on asset inventory. But, over time as equipment aged, we experienced issues that put unnecessary burden on our operations teams. I think that’s, in part, the nature of our industry.” explains Carl, who has been GM/CEO since February 2023. After making significant investments to meet new regulatory standards, we are now able to shift our focus from upgrade mode into long-term maintenance and operations mode.”
For AlexRenew, shifting into this long-term maintenance mode meant deploying cutting-edge software to help optimize future investments, increase productivity and better manage existing assets and maintenance. The utility was relying on aging software that was the centerpiece of asset management efforts, and knew it was time to upgrade.
AlexRenew turned to MentorAPM’s Work & Asset Performance Management Suite, a cloud-based computerized maintenance management solution (CMMS). AlexRenew and MentorAPM entered into an initial five-year contract that includes a complete lifecycle of services. CDM Smith was also part of the AlexRenew project team and provided support services throughout the implementation to help drive performance.
Concurrent to the software deployment, AlexRenew also launched a programmatic asset management plan that included strategic and tactical goals.
“When I started here I realized that we hadn’t really had a structured asset management program. Now we have Tacoma’s team deploying MentorAPM while our team at AlexRenew is simultaneously working strategy and programming,” Carl says.
Data to Decisions
AlexRenew was intent on taking a comprehensive approach to asset management that would optimize its asset inventory and put its data to use. The organization tried to better understand how assets impacted its ratepayers’ level of service and wanted the ability to make decisions based on risk.
As MentorAPM co-founder and CEO Tacoma Zach says, asset management is a much broader concept than simply maintaining assets.
“It’s a holistic approach that safeguards why people pay for these services, and to make sure those services are there to deliver what they are expected to do for the protection of the environment and the ratepayers who are getting it,” he says.
MentorAPM’s cloud-based CMMS suite includes a catalog of master asset types and “asset strategy libraries” that help speed up the software integration process. Water and wastewater systems can integrate data from both vertical and GIS-based horizontal assets into the platform. Operators or field crews can then use this data to see real-time updates on system assets.
To measure current risk, MentorAPM conducted a criticality and risk analysis to determine the worst-case scenarios that occurred when assets didn’t perform at peak operation. It then went through and ranked these scenarios. AlexRenew staff were engaged in the process to get a detailed view of the protocols and procedures when operators and field staff would respond to issues. The analysis was based on historical failure rate data, considered past maintenance practices and cultural influences within the organization. The resulting asset portfolio risk profile provided AlexRenew with a comprehensive and accurate ranking of criticality and risk.
Contrary to AlexRenew’s previous enterprise asset management platform, which was used primarily for running corrective and preventative maintenance for the organization, the goal of MentorAPM’s asset management suite was to optimize risk assessment of critical systems. AlexRenew staff now have access to an impact vs. probability chart that informs its capital budget, including large capital projects, in addition to other investments, renewals and replacements.
Staff can also access MentorAPM’s mobile app with features for field crews, operators and supervisors that can be used to view work orders, scheduling, asset history, materials, work plans, standard operating procedures, specifications, and more.
AlexRenew staff were keen on recording the time, materials and equipment spent on each job. Now they can enter this information into each work order to track the cost ofa given work order. Within just a couple months of using the program, AlexRenew generated more than 2,800 work orders in the system, which serves as a testament to the amount of work the facility is regularly doing.
In addition, AlexRenew integrated its Great Plains financial software with MentorAPM through its MuleSoft IT software, which allows it to tie work orders directly to its budget. Carl explains the integration provides an overhead view of the organization’s financial health.
“It helps us prioritize some of our work as part of our capital improvement program,” he says. “In the past, we knew what major projects were coming up, but this gives us additional insight into what we need to include in our budget on a year-to-year basis and what we need to focus on from an internal rate of return (IRR) perspective.
“Asset management is now integrated into our organization all the way up into the capital budget. It’s something both our finance and engineering teams can look at, as well as our executive team, to get an idea of where we need to prioritize our spending.”
Culture & Change Management
Another notable aspect of the deployment was the transformation of AlexRenew’s culture throughout the integration. While not necessarily a goal of the project, Carl explains that getting staff to buy into new data-centric processes was made easier by involving them up front.
“We had to bring our maintenance, operations, engineering, finance and comms team together to optimize Mentor,” he says. “It can’t be quantified, but that process helped change tour culture, and staff began to make risk and maintenance a priority. The process gave our staff the ability to provide input, and helped them buy in to the new way of doing things.
“In the beginning, people were afraid of walking around with iPads. Now, months in, nobody gives it a second thought. I think anytime you engage a large contingent of your staff to try to make a positive change for the organization, and they have an opportunity to see the sausage getting made, it’s going to help with the culture.”
“Asset management is now integrated into our organization all the way up into the capital budget. It’s something both our finance and engineering teams can look at, as well as our executive team, to get an idea of where we need to prioritize our spending.”
AlexRenew CEO/GM Justin Carl
In addition, MentorAPM hosted eight in-person training sessions on asset management that were open to AlexRenew staff and recorded so they could be referenced later.
Another aspect of the integration Carl highlights is updating AlexRenew’s process maps, which had to be adjusted for accuracy in MentorAPM’s platform. Carl says this effort helped break down silos between departments.
“I don’t want to sell that process short,” he says. “It was a lot of work both on the consultant side and the owner side, because [the data] is what we’re going to be living with moving forward once it gets baked into the software. This was a way to smooth the road, build some camaraderie between our departments, and break down barriers as we implemented the software.”
AlexRenew’s asset management software integration also spawned a new innovation for MentorAPM during the project. During the initial asset walk-throughs conducted for the AlexRenew deployment, staff were having a difficult time with field collection of asset data. In response, MentorAPM developed a program by which a smartphone photo could be easily uploaded to its platform. Using an AI feature with three layers of validation, the plate and condition data can be determined in seconds and attached to the appropriate asset record.
“We don’t necessarily need to rely on a keen eye to do a rough condition assessment of our entire facility. Now we can use Mentor for an in-depth analysis,” Carl says “For us, the condition data is particularly important because it’s going to tie back to our criticality and where we need to make our investments. We’re going to have more reliable data to tell us we’re investing in the right areas.”
He adds that in the years ahead, AlexRenew is interested in exploring more digital twin and AI offerings to help manage operations.
Zach, whose background spans more than 25 years in water utility management including as an executive with Veolia Water prior to co-founding MentorAPM, credits Carl for instituting a change management at AlexRenew.
“Asset management is way bigger than just a system to do work orders,” Zach says. “It requires tools to be able to get information that most places, historically, don’t get. But it comes from the top down. These guys get asset management, and they actually want to leverage the full complement of the tool set for what it is designed to do it.
“You can throw the best tech at something, but if people don’t understand it, don’t know why they need to use it, and don’t want to change the way they do business, then not a whole lot is going to change.”
Andrew Farr is the managing editor of Water Finance & Management. He has covered the U.S. water utility sector for 13 years along with other construction markets for publisher Benjamin Media, based in Richfield, Ohio.
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