Interactive Workshop facilitated by Iain Cranston & Rowan Holyer
Local governments are facing increasingly difficult infrastructure investment decisions. Aging assets, funding constraints, and rising service expectations are placing heavy demands, but organizations are working with incomplete asset data. Collecting better asset data is certainly important, but in the short-term communities face a practical question: how do we make better decisions with the information we already have available?
This interactive workshop introduces participants to the foundations of leveraging asset data to support infrastructure planning and decision making. Designed for communities with limited staff capacity and imperfect data, the session focuses on practical steps rather than idealized outcomes. The workshop will include facilitated discussion, real world examples from communities across North America, and hands on guidance. Participants will leave with access to a simple Excel based asset inventory tool they can use as a starting point for organizing data and supporting internal conversations.
This session is designed to help communities move from reactive decision making toward clearer, more confident infrastructure planning.
Presentation by Elliot Smith & Tim Slusser
Across the United States, water utilities are managing aging infrastructure with limited budgets and incomplete information about the condition of their systems. While asset management frameworks have advanced significantly over the last decade, many utilities still lack reliable, empirical data about the pipes buried beneath their streets. As a result, replacement and maintenance decisions are often based on age, break history, or assumptions rather than direct condition assessment.
This session will explore how emerging inspection technologies are helping utilities move toward a more data-driven approach to water main asset management. Drawing from experience working with municipalities across Michigan, the presentation will discuss the current challenges utilities face in understanding pipeline condition, why traditional inspection methods have struggled to scale, and how new tools are enabling utilities to collect meaningful data from live, pressurized systems.
The discussion will focus on how condition assessment data can support better capital planning, improve risk prioritization, and strengthen coordination between engineering, operations, and financial teams. Attendees will also gain perspective on how inspection technologies can integrate with existing GIS and asset management programs to support long-term infrastructure planning.
As utilities continue working to break down operational silos, reliable infrastructure data will play a critical role in helping communities make smarter, more defensible investment decisions in their water systems.
Panel Discussion featuring Missy Stults, Jonathan Mallek, Joe Lange, Arin Yu, & Skye Stewart
Rising energy costs, declining public health, more frequent natural disasters, eroding trust in local institutions, and aging infrastructure - Directly addressing these challenges is work often done in silos. But the City of Ann Arbor took a novel approach, attempting to address these issues together, through their recently negotiated Sustainable Heating Franchise and other strategic initiatives.
Adopted in April 2025 and guided by the City's ongoing sustainability work, Ann Arbor’s heating franchise is the first in the country to include a climate agreement while also pushing for deeper coordination (including a dig-once philosophy), greater data transparency, enhanced customer service, and shared programming between the City and DTE Energy around energy efficiency. Signed on Earth Day, the franchise aims to demonstrably improve health, safety and make forward progress toward addressing the climate crisis.
During this session, participates will hear about the Sustainable Heating Franchise as well as real-world projects that are advancing sustainable heating solutions. This includes looking at how sustainable heating is being integrated into affordable housing projects, how the City is piloting networked geothermal, and how Ann Arbor is holistically planning for a transition to sustainable heating city-wide. Following an overview of this work, the panel will engage in interactive dialogue with the audience.
