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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFIN-08-077 - Water & Gas Utilities GIS Data Conversion ProjectReport To: Finance and Corporate Services Committee Date of Meeting: June 9, 2008 Submitted By: Pauline Houston, General Manager of Community Services Prepared By: Jeff Ham, Manager, Database Administration and GIS Les Jones, Utilities Engineer Angela Mick, Utilities Water Engineer Wards}Involved: All Date of Report: May 30, 2008 Report No.: FIN-08-077 Subject: WATER AND GAS UTILITIES GIS DATA CONVERSION PROJECT RECOMMENDATION: That $485,000 of funding for the Water and Gas Utilities GIS Data Conversion Project be allocated from the following sources: Gas Capital Surplus $436,500 Watertight Study $ 30,000 Watermain Replacement $ 18,500 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The City of Kitchener owns, maintains and operates the water and gas infrastructure within the City. Reliable records are required to document infrastructure as well as to provide information for maintenance and emergencies. The City's gas and water records are largely hard-copy and require resources to update them to a GIS platform. This project will provide specific benefits that accrue from having up-to-date, detailed, consistent and accurate records, while providing quick access to them everywhere throughout the Corporation. This will simultaneously position the City to better face the challenges of supporting legislated requirements, utility planning and development, emergency response, operations, system maintenance and enhanced service to the public. The City has requested proposals from consultants for the Water and Gas Utilities GIS Data Conversion Project. Provided the funding for this project is approved, a consultant will be awarded the project. BACKGROUND: The City of Kitchener is experiencing a backlog in maintaining the detailed water and gas infrastructure records. The water infrastructure records are almost ten years behind and have reached a point where users have minimal confidence in the accuracy of the data. Due to the nature of gas infrastructure, the records are more accurate and current, however they are headed in the same direction. Anew process is required to decrease the amount of time it takes to update drawings manually and to provide an opportunity to move towards electronic information. There is an opportunity to have aGIS-based system using the current water and gas maps as a base. Essentially as- recorded information and the existing hard copy records would be digitized into a GIS system. Refer to A endix 1 for a summary of the current mapping processes for water and gas. In the fall of 2007 Kitchener Utilities staff and Corporate Services Information Technology staff worked together to develop a Project Charter, Request for Proposal (RFP} and pilot project to solve this business problem. The work was completed in March 2008. During the development work a model was created to the standard the City requires to support the on going business of the gas and water utilities. A highly detailed service level agreement for the on going maintenance of the water and gas infrastructure is currently being developed, with completion targeted for December 2008, when the GIS group will take over maintenance of the utility mapping. This service level agreement will ensure all the technical details for maintaining water and gas facility records are clearly understood by both the Utility and GIS groups. REPORT: Although the current MICROSTATION environment is in full production and provides a solution to meet many of the City's needs, there is a business need for water and gas infrastructure to upgrade the current system to be more compatible with the Corporate GIS System. By updating the records to a GIS platform, the following opportunities for benefits exist: Improvement of integration and interoperability of our Water and Gas facility records with other municipal spatial data sets, such as property ownership and Aerial Photo information. Provide "one-stop shopping" system for staff/consultants who need spatial data to deliver Utility services. The ability to enhance decision making and record better information by referencing multiple spatial data sets when designing new utility facilities. Puts a strong foundation in place for integration with new Infrastructure Management, Financial and Customer Service applications Project Delta}. Allow for sharing of data between departments of the City and third parties, such as the Ontario Energy Board and Ministry of Environment. Establish a system to distribute current mapping and utility data to field staff and customers. Meeting regulatory requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act and CSA for up-to- date, accurate records Spend less time gathering detail sheets for consultants, particularly when conflicting information is found. Increase efficiency/accuracy since there will no longer be a need to copy information several times, less risk of transcription error Accurate details would likely result in decreased extras on reconstruction projects. Decreased customer unplanned interruptions could also be expected. Locate efficiency could be improved through accurate records. The ability to find accurate information is much more difficult after hours. Having accurate records available on OnPoint will alleviate this. There is a risk of document degradation over time and arisk ofwater/fire damage. Storage space is becoming an issue in vehicles and in the office. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: This project was not identified as part of the 2008 capital budget process and the scope and timing of the project had not been clearly defined. However, it was understood that the need for the project would be coming forward at some point. As a result, unallocated funding in the Gas capital surplus account was retained with this purpose in mind. Now that the Delta Project has been more clearly defined, it has become evident that the timing of the data conversion project would be aligned with the Delta Project to allow for maximum efficiencies and benefit. It is recommended that this funding now be allowed on the basis of 90% benefit to the gasworks enterprise and 10% benefit to the waterworks enterprise. In summary the recommended funding is: Gasworks Capital Surplus (index 345095) $436,500 Watertight Study (index 871685) $30,000 Watermain Replacement (index 872127) $18,500 (Note: funding for the watertight study is no longer required for that purpose as the original intent of hiring a consultant to do this work in conjunction with the province was abandoned and replaced with a scaled back in house approach to gather the necessary data to support the project.) COMMUNICATIONS: N/A CONCLUSION: Transferring funds to engage a consultant to convert the current hard copy gas and water infrastructure records will provide numerous benefits that accrue from having up-to-date, detailed, consistent and accurate records, while providing quick access to them everywhere throughout the Corporation. This will simultaneously position the City to better face the challenges of supporting legislated requirements, utility planning and development, emergency response, operations, system maintenance and enhanced service to the public. Pauline Houston, CA General Manager of Community Services Jeff Ham, OLS, OLI P, CET Manager, Database Administration and GIS Information Technology Les Jones, P. Eng. Utilities Engineer Angela Mick, P. Eng. Utilities Water Engineer