美国审计署官方文件
Letter 1
Executive Summary 2
Purpose 2
Background 4
Results in Brief 5
Principal Findings 7
Recommendations for Executive Action 9
Agency Comments 9
Chapter 1
Introduction11
The Federal Government Has Played a Major Role in Funding and Setting Requirements for Water Infrastructure 12
Projected Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Needs Are Significant 13
Many Factors Have Contributed to Deteriorating Utility Infrastructure 15
Comprehensive Asset Management Focuses on Efficiently Managing Capital Assets 17
Strategy for Adopting and Progress toward Implementing Comprehensive Asset Management Varies 21
Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 22
Comments from the Environmental Protection Agency 25
Chapter 2
Water Industry Officials Report Many Benefits from Asset Management Despite Implementation Challenges 26
Utilities Cite Many Benefits from Asset Management and Some Cautions About Reported Savings 26
Utilities Face Challenges in Successfully Implementing Comprehensive Asset Management 36
Contents
Page ii GAO-04-461 Water Utility Asset Management
Chapter 3
EPA Can Encourage Water Utilities to Use Asset Management by Strengthening Existing Initiatives 47
EPA Sponsors Several Initiatives to Promote Utilities’ Use of Asset Management 47
EPA’s Efforts to Promote Asset Management Could Be Strengthened by Leveraging Ongoing Efforts Within and Outside the Agency 51
Water Industry Officials Favor an Expanded Role for EPA in Promoting Asset Management, but Raised Concerns About Additional Regulatory Requirements 54
Conclusions 58
Recommendations for Executive Action 59
Appendixes
Appendix I: Utilities Selected for Structured Interviews 60
Appendix II: GAO Contacts in Australia and New Zealand 61
Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 62
GAO Contacts 62
Staff Acknowledgments 62
Tables Table 1: Recent Estimates of the Cost of Meeting Infrastructure Needs at Drinking Water and Wastewater Utilities 13
Table 2: Typical Sources of Data for a Central Asset Inventory 40
Figure Figure 1: Elements of Comprehensive Asset Management 18
Abbreviations
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
GAO General Accounting Office