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Annual Update - Gas Distribution System
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This update covers the operation and maintenance of the gas system from this past year. The update will focus on aspects of physical condition, accomplishments, procedural requirements, federal and state oversight and regulatory requirements, capital project accomplishments, development projects support, and the major change in staffing and management of the gas system operation.
This year has seen a few major changes with the gas system operation program, as well as one relatively large system addition with the construction of the Hills Apartments. This apartment complex has not yet gone live but will be a significant change in the size of the system. Other changes that have occurred are the improvements from the Rose Street utilities improvements (capacity to serve and pipe condition upgrades), Mirador Phase II, and the DP Road reconstruction upgrades (capacity to serve and pipe condition upgrades).
The biggest change to the gas system operation and maintenance program is the addition of a dedicated gas system supervisor and full-time gas O&M crew team. In the past, the gas O&M program had to share crews who were also working on water distribution and wastewater collections O&M tasks. As was reported last year, the NMPRC performed an audit on the DPU’s gas system O&M program and records management procedures that resulted in mainly administrative “notices of probable violation.” However, there were some procedural violations that prompted GWS to request organizational change and the addition of the GWS Gas System Supervisor. There are over 90 operator qualification certifications that require full-time oversight, along with all the system O&M “distribution integrity management plan” (DIMP) requirements that must be fully documented to be considered compliant with the PHMSA 49-CFR regulations. It is no longer possible to split crew time between the three utilities and meet all the requirements to...
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