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Insights on GIS mapping, utility management, and digital infrastructure for small water, sewer, and stormwater utilities.

Utility crew truck under floodlights on a rural night job

Work orders that work with no signal: Offline-first software for rural water

Half your service area has no bars. Here is what an offline work order app for rural water has to do, and how the work stays tied to the asset.

Locate marks tracing a buried utility easement through grass

Stormwater mapping and your MS4 permit: A small-utility guide

Got an MS4 permit and no map of your stormwater system? Here is how a small crew maps catch basins and outfalls, logs inspections, and keeps the records the permit wants.

Exposed collection main in an open roadside trench

Mapping your sewer collection system: Manholes, lift stations, and I&I

The water side is mapped, but the sewer side is buried and on paper. Here is how a small utility maps its collection system, ties inspections and I&I to the map, and tracks lift stations.

How your asset records become a funding application: SRF, grants, and the rate case

The state wants an asset management plan and documented need before it funds a thing. Here is how your age, condition, and work-history records turn into an SRF application, a grant, an AWIA assessment, and a rate case that holds up.

Utility locate paint marks on the ground marking buried lines before digging

811 locates for small utilities: Match the dig ticket to your map

A locate ticket lands and the one person who knows where the line runs is out. Here is how a map of your system makes 811 locates faster, safer, and provable.

Open service line trench running from the water main toward a building

How to build a lead service line inventory without a GIS department

Build a lead service line inventory from your tap cards, verify pipe material in the field with a photo, and hand the state a clean list. No GIS department needed.

How to maintain a single utility asset database

A step-by-step guide for small water and wastewater utilities to build a single source of truth: set governance rules, integrate GIS alongside existing systems, capture updates at the moment of work, and put recurring map and asset record upkeep on the calendar.

Why utility asset databases fall out of sync

Utility asset databases drift away from reality because the field can't update them, the GIS won't accept changes, and nobody owns the data. Here's how field-first workflows fix all three.

10 work order software features for small water utilities

The 10 features that separate water utility work order management software that lives in the truck from the kind that dies in a binder, with a question to ask each vendor.

Hand-annotated paper plat map of water distribution system with valve locations and lot numbers

Your utility's data lives in six different places: Here's what that costs you

Binders, spreadsheets, filing cabinets, and your most experienced operator's memory. When your best guy retires, what goes with him? Here's how small utilities are fixing this.

Corroded water main leaking in a muddy trench — the kind of aging infrastructure that drives capital budget decisions

How your asset data should drive your capital budget

Your capital budget should come from real maintenance costs and condition data, not a dusty binder. Here's a simple framework for small water and wastewater utilities.

Pump house interior with pressure tanks and water treatment system — the infrastructure utilities track costs on

Can you connect financial tracking and asset management at your utility?

Yes, if you track labor, materials, and equipment costs on every work order and tie them to the actual asset. Here's how small utilities are doing it with Ziptility.

Father and son in hi-vis vests standing together at a water utility — generational knowledge transfer

The map gets smarter every day. Or it doesn't

An engineering map gets updated when there's an engineering project. An operations map gets updated every time someone does their job. Which one do you want when the main breaks at midnight?

Paper clipboard with subdivision as-built map used for field reference at a water utility

You don't need better GIS. You need an operations record.

GIS is a design tool. It's for engineering work that happens a few times a year. Running a water system is a daily job, and daily jobs need a daily record. Here's the difference.

Two water utility operators outdoors reviewing infrastructure data on a tablet together

Who owns your map?

At most small utilities, the engineer controls the GIS. The field crew just looks at it. But the people who need accurate maps most are the ones standing at the valve at 3 AM, not the ones designing a project twice a year.

Small rural water storage tank with corrugated steel exterior serving a community water system

What a 50-connection utility taught us about running a tight ship

Our smallest customer has 50 connections, a contract operator, and no full-time staff. They built an asset management plan and a capital budget the board actually uses.

Hand-annotated paper plat map of water distribution system with valve locations and lot numbers

Paper maps, filing cabinets, and the Monday morning that changes everything

You don't need 10,000 connections or a GIS specialist. Here's what it actually looks like when a 3-person utility crew goes from paper maps to phone maps.

Water utility operator working in muddy excavation trench during nighttime emergency repair

Why the smallest utilities have the most to lose

92% of U.S. water systems serve fewer than 10,000 people, but small systems account for 86% of SDWA violations. Here's why size makes every risk hit harder.

ESRI is overkill for your utility. Here's what to use instead.

ArcMap is being retired. ArcGIS Pro costs more than most small utilities can justify. Here's what small water and wastewater systems are doing instead of paying for software built for engineers.

Why your utility needs more than just a mapping app

Your map shows where pipes are. But who fixed it last? See why small utilities need utility asset management software that connects maps and work orders in one system.

The retiring operator problem: How to preserve what your team knows

The silver tsunami is hitting water utilities hard. Here's a step-by-step process to capture what your retiring operators know before they walk out the door.

From paper maps to digital GIS: A guide for small water utilities

Still running on paper maps? Learn how to start tracing underground pipes and digitizing maps for your water utility, step by step, no GIS experience needed.

Why your utility needs collaboration software

Modern technology empowers us to connect and collaborate more efficiently remotely

Why we created the Ziptility utility management app

99% of water systems don't have effective tools to support their communities well. Empowering them with great software protects the right to safe and affordable water for over 160 million people.

What is mobile utility management? The benefits of making your utility maps mobile

A mobile asset management system allows operators, office administrators, inspectors, engineers, and superintendents to access important asset information no-matter where they are.