Water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants might not be the first things that come to mind when you’re thinking about accurate property valuation data. But if your entity has one or both types of properties to include on its property insurance Statement of Values, you might just want to give that data a closer look.

Over the years, we’ve noticed a common problem with the way wastewater and water treatment plants are listed on SOVs. Often, an entire plant, all its buildings, its property-in-the-open — everything! — is listed as a single line item on that insurance Statement of Values. Now, the value of these properties can range anywhere from $50 million to $100 million or more. So, if one element within that whole treatment plant becomes damaged, how do you accurately estimate replacement costs for a fraction of that total? And with numbers so large, how do you ensure you get accurate coverage for the property that you truly have? It becomes very easy to over- or under-cover these plants.

Here at Centurisk, when we see a large, single value like that on an SOV, we recommend getting our valuation experts involved for an on-site visit, to value the treatment plant and break that property down into its key elements. This helps ensure a more thorough, specific and accurate valuation for that property.

So, what sort of data do you typically need to include for a wastewater or water treatment plant on your SOV?

You’ll want to check with your insurance company for a complete listing of data they require. But generally, for any structures, the date of construction is important. And for your equipment, you’ll want the construction date, as well as the manufacturer, model, and serial number. These points will apply to all structures and equipment within both your water and wastewater treatment plants.

But let’s talk about the more specific data for each…

Property Insurance Data for Wastewater Treatment Plants

 wastewater treatment plant

In addition to the standard ISO classification data and primary and secondary COPE details that are necessary to gather for buildings, when you’re including information for a wastewater treatment plant, your SOV should also contain more specialized data for the following facility structures:

Property Insurance Data for Water Treatment Plants

water treatment plant

Water treatment plants are designed to process and improve water quality for uses such as drinking, the industrial water supply, irrigation, etc.​ Each involves many different facilities for proper processing, typically including: a reservoir, an intake station, chlorine injection units, a stabilization tank, a polyaluminum chloride (PAC) coagulant, a flash mixer, a flocculation tank, a sedimentation tank, filters, pumps, a clear well, and a storage tank. As with wastewater treatment plants, you’ll want to include standard primary and secondary COPE details, and ISO classification information for any buildings associated with your water treatment plant. But there is also common water treatment plant data that’s useful to collect for your insurance SOV, and that includes information on the following structures:

One Line on Your SOV is Simply Not Enough!

As you can see, there are many varied structures and elements that comprise a functional wastewater or water treatment plant—any of which can be subject to a risk event at any time. By breaking these features into smaller, structure-centered groups of detailed property data and valuing them individually, your organization increases your SOV’s accuracy and helps insurers view your submission with greater credibility. You avoid worst case scenario rates because your data is complete, and all of this affects the accuracy of your rates and the thoroughness of your coverage. Our valuation associates at Centurisk specialize in gathering the data organizations need for wastewater and water treatment plants, so if the quality and level of detail of this material feel daunting, we’re more than happy to do the documentation and valuation for you. Click here to learn more about our trusted property insurance appraisal services.

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