Burleson’s Asset Management Program Showcased in Texas WET Magazine
To strike a balance between investing in new infrastructure and maintaining aging systems, the City of Burleson, Texas, adopted a citywide asset management plan that has allowed them to coordinate activities across multiple infrastructure types — water, wastewater and pavements — and invest wisely.
Steven Rhodes and Tanu Kulkarni, members of Freese and Nichols’ Infrastructure Management group, teamed with Janalea Hembree, Assistant to Burleson’s City Manager, to tell the story as a TechTalk article in a recent issue of Texas WET magazine, published by the Water Environment Association of Texas. The trio is also scheduled to present on the project at the Texas Water 2026 conference in San Antonio on April 29.
The article, “Orchestrating Citywide Asset Management: A Perpetual Harmony of Coordinated Infrastructure Renewal,” (see page 35) examines the City’s use of the OpenGov Enterprise Asset Management System to conduct risk assessments and lifecycle analyses for linear and vertical assets across their water, wastewater and pavement infrastructure.
Burleson’s experience shows how “utilities of moderate size can adopt these asset management practices that align engineering, operations, and finance to build long-term system resilience,” the authors write.
Steven and Tanu have extensive experience helping cities make data-informed decisions to maintain and renew their water, wastewater and roadway systems. For Burleson, Freese and Nichols developed the asset management plans for the City’s water/wastewater and pavement infrastructure systems.
A case study in asset management that drives efficient investment and builds system resilience
By evaluating the condition of thousands of components, developing robust frameworks to determine each one’s probability of failure and the consequences if it were to fail and conducting lifecycle studies, the City can efficiently plan for both immediate and long-term repair, replacement and capital investment needs.
With a population of 55,000, Burleson has a water distribution and wastewater collection system covering 460 miles. They maintain three pump stations, five ground storage and two elevated storage tanks, more than 3,400 hydraulic valves and 1,782 fire hydrants within the water distribution system. Within their wastewater collection system, they own and maintain more than 3,700 manholes, three wet wells and three lift stations.
As part of the data collection, condition assessment site visits were conducted at two pump stations, including associated ground storage tanks, and two elevated storage tanks. The project team developed mobile field apps to collect images and condition data for instrumentation and control, HVAC, electrical, structural and mechanical process types.
The project team deployed drone-based imagery to capture high-resolution photos of inaccessible components and used thermal imaging camera attachments to capture snapshots of the pumps’ operating conditions.
Previously, the city’s asset management efforts included a pavement management plan, which was integrated into the water/wastewater asset management plan. By adopting a coordinated right-of-way infrastructure planning framework, the city has been able to time their water and wastewater renewal activities with roadway rehabilitations to minimize disruptions to the community and maximize the effectiveness of infrastructure investments.
Small and medium-size utilities can adopt these asset management practices that align engineering, operations, and finance to build long-term system resilience.