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34 SEPTEMBER 2015 COATINGSPROMAG.COM Inspector's Corner Editor's note: Tis discussion is an excerpt from a set of panel questions regarding water tanks and transmission assets/ systems and how they are and should be managed through maintenance. Robert Boswell, a third-party inspector, discusses several areas of water and wastewater tank management, including his take on regular inspections, educating the owner, and the role of coatings in this market. Q: How are assets with protective coatings typically managed in the water tank industry? A: Tis is handled diferently depending up the city, utility district, or private water supply company. Some cities rely on outside management groups to maintain and operate their facilities. Tis operation generally is limited to the mechanics of the system transmission and storage. Te protective coatings for the water storage tanks, pumps, and aboveground piping oftentimes are managed without the full knowledge of how to manage the protective coatings. Large cities and metropoli- tan areas w ill generally rely on the ser vices of professional groups, such as engineering and consulting firms, to provide them w ith recom- mendations of how to manage their assets and protective coatings. T heir ser vices generally include evaluation of the protective coatings, design for rehabilitation of the assets, managing rehabilitation projects, and setting up programs for regular evaluation. T hese groups should be well versed and educated in how to manage the coatings that protect these assets. Sma l l uti lit y d istr icts of ten w i l l have a water tank recoated af ter it star ts " look ing bad " on the outside. Once the outside appearance becomes undesirable, of tentimes the protective coating on the inside has long since fai led and damage f rom cor rosion has occur red. In my travels, I have seen tanks that were r usted over most of the exter ior sur face and were sti l l being used for water storage. T hese tanks have no prog ram for recoat- ing or rehabi litation — not even the " look ing bad " prog ram — and are destined for catastrophic fai lure. Private water supply companies are beginning to see the importance of having a professional services group help them keep their assets up to date, not only with keeping the protective coatings in good order but keeping them up to date structurally and with the current safety standards. With an active management program, corrosion and early coating failure may be controlled, hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair, out-of-ser vice, and replacement costs per tank may be saved, and the issues with structural failure may be avoided. By Robert Boswell, Project Manager/Consultant for Boswell's Consulting Testing Services Maintenance Programs for Water Tanks Photos courtesy of Boswell's Consulting Testing Services