East Larimer County Water District Cuts Lookup Time to Seconds and Reaches 90% Preventive Maintenance with CivicPlus Asset Management

East Larimer County Water District (ELCO Water) in northern Colorado manages more than 275 miles of pipe and thousands of distribution assets. Operations Manager Josh Meck, who brings 26 years of industry experience, joined the district to strengthen field coordination, modernize data practices, and introduce structure to daily operational work.

Before adopting CivicPlus^® Asset Management, ELCO Water relied on manual processes, paper records, and individual institutional knowledge. Staff often spent days searching for asset history, documentation, or past work. As infrastructure aged and the system expanded, the district needed a centralized operational system tied closely to its existing Esri GIS foundation.

Challenge: Manual Records Slowed Work and Limited Planning

In 2024, ELCO Water had a limited work order management system in place, primarily focused on meters and customer service needs, but lacked a comprehensive asset management system. Asset information, mapping details, and documentation were stored across various locations, making it difficult to track what had been done, what needed attention, or where assets were located.

Primary challenges included:

• Additional time spent locating information spread across disparate records
• Preventive maintenance activities were tracked across paper and multiple systems, limiting consistency and visibility
• Limited visibility into asset history and upcoming work
• Difficulty linking reactive work to specific mapped assets
• Slower emergency resolution due to outdated or incomplete map data
• No accurate baseline for workload or system condition

This created operational challenges for both office and field staff, especially as the district’s infrastructure footprint continued to grow.

Solution: A Centralized, GIS-Aligned Operational System

ELCO Water implemented Asset Management to replace fragmented tracking across paper and disconnected systems with a unified system for work orders, asset records, and operational history. Because the district already relied heavily on Esri GIS for mapping, utility locations, and mobile reference maps, adopting a system that aligned well with their existing GIS foundation supported their workflows.

Asset Management now enables ELCO Water to:

• Track asset details, conditions, and documentation in one location
• Create, assign, and complete work orders consistently across teams
• Connect reactive work to mapped assets for better long-term planning
• Build and maintain structured preventive maintenance schedules
• Increase visibility into workload volume and operational trends
• Support future expansion of Esri-connected workflows

The combination of Esri’s mapping capabilities and Asset Management’s operational structure gave the district a unified, reliable way to manage system complexity.

Results: Faster Operations, Stronger Data, and a Shift Toward Preventive Work

Daily Efficiency Gains

• Staff now log 20+ hours per week per employee into the system.
• Asset history and documentation retrieval dropped from days to seconds.
• Time-to-resolution improved with up-to-date asset information and GIS-backed context.

Workload and Preventive Maintenance Improvements

• Work orders created:
  • 2023: 1,508
  • 2024: 1,714
  • 2025: 5,057
• Documented preventive maintenance increased to 90 percent.
• Reactive work is now tied directly to tracked assets, creating a clean operational history.

System Visibility

ELCO Water now maintains structured digital records for thousands of assets, including:

• 4,009 valves
• 1,102 hydrants
• 6,260 pipe segments
• 3 pump stations and tanks
• 3,359 fittings
• 1,774 lateral service lines
• 275 miles of pipe

Water meters will be added next.

Operational Impact

• Issues are resolved 45 percent faster, driven by instant access to accurate information.
• Crews spend less time navigating between sites due to better system clarity and GIS-driven context.
• As asset onboarding continues, ELCO expects significant long-term reductions in emergency-related costs.

Resident Impact

Complaint volume is steady, but internal efficiency and response speed have improved substantially due to faster information retrieval and cleaner asset data.

Looking Ahead

With thousands of assets now centralized and preventive maintenance established, ELCO Water is positioned for stronger operational planning and long-term infrastructure reliability. The district is exploring deeper Esri-connected workflows and sees opportunities to continue building on the combined strengths of Esri GIS and Asset Management.

ELCO Water’s shift from manual processes to a GIS-aligned operational system has created a measurable improvement in how work is managed, documented, and resolved. The district now has faster operations, structured preventive programs, and a more complete system record to guide future decisions.

See how your team can move from reactive work to preventive asset management. Learn more!