Operation & Maintenance Services

Operation and maintenance activities, which encompass not only technical issues, but also managerial, social, financial, and institutional issues, must be directed toward the elimination or reduction of the major constraints which prevent the achievement of sustainability. It maintains the integrity of the valuable assets of clients.

The two activities of “operation” and “maintenance” are very different. Operation refers to the direct access to the system by the user, to the activities of any operational staff, and to the rules or by-laws, which may be devised to govern who may access the system, when, and under what conditions. Maintenance, on the other hand, has to do with the technical activities, planned or reactive, which are needed to keep the system working. Maintenance requires skills, tools, and spare parts (CARTER 2009). Maintenance can be classified as follows (adapted from CASTRO 2009):

• Preventive maintenance
• Corrective maintenance
• Reactive maintenance

Advantages

• O&M activities ensure that the project is sustainable in the long term
• O&M allows for the correct provision of services and benefit of end-users
• O&M prevents the systems from collapsing creating environmental and health hazards