Award Winners
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utility Department
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utility Department (CMUD) has shifted from a rapid-growth to maintenance focus, with a new emphasis on continuous improvement. Refusing to compromise essential services, CMUD earned a third AAA bond rating, continued building cash reserves, improved its debt service coverage ratio and maintained competitive rates. Customer trust was established through collaborative development of a 40-point action plan. Transparent stakeholder communications included a rate study involving public input, resulting in rate structure changes that provide more stable revenue while maintaining affordability and conservation incentives. As a founding leader in the Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group, CMUD reaffirms its commitment to protecting shared natural resources.
City of San Diego Public Utilities Department
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
City of San Diego Public Utilities Department prides itself in continual improvement and challenges employees to be optimally efficient. Initiatives regarding bond refinancing and State Revolving Fund loans generated savings of $107.8 million over 30 years. Through award-winning projects, like the Water Purification Demonstration Project, it pursues innovative ways of creating new local water supplies to address the increasing demands. The utility explores revenue-producing initiatives that help alleviate the rates citizens pay, such as a digester gas project for production of a renewable energy source. Operational optimization is assured through regularly updated facility master plans, an asset management program, and a condition assessment and rehabilitation program.
Denver Water
2012 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Denver Water is committed to delivering a high-quality product, operating with excellence and efficiency, developing employees’ skills and using specific metrics to track performance. It has engaged in comprehensive watershed protection efforts and asset management programs. To prepare for an uncertain future, it uses scenario planning to evaluate potential water supply futures and collaborates with federal, state and local officials to prevent, prepare for and recover from emergencies. The utility partners with regulatory agencies to ensure it uses practical approaches to protect public health and the environment. Its financial position is strong, with solid cash reserves and excellent credit ratings.
Fairfax Water
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
Fairfax Water, the largest drinking water utility in Virginia, has treatment plants capable of producing 345 MGD. Through the use of ozonation and activated carbon filters, as well as other treatment best practices, water quality consistently surpasses all federal standards. The utility’s strategic plan, which identifies strategies and action steps for key business areas (water quality, infrastructure, financial, staffing, customer service and technology), is an active working document for the organization. The strategic planning process guarantees the utility will leave a legacy of adequate water resources, financial soundness and environmental stability for the next generation.
Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority
2012 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority focuses on priorities of product quality, customer satisfaction and financial viability. The major goal of its strategic plan is expanding high quality water service throughout the region, while maintaining a reasonably low cost and stable rate structure. The utility continues to grow revenues, contain costs and keep rates stable while it increases its focus on community sustainability and broadens the scope of its service areas. As part of an economic partnership the utility is developing a marine park on its property located on the Waccamaw River/Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
JEA
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
JEA of Jacksonville, Fla., has a constant focus on operational improvement through ongoing analysis via its TargetSmart program based on the Six Sigma methodology for significant process improvements and cost-savings across the organization. JEA has made tremendous production and infrastructure system investments and is now refining and streamlining its systems to ensure optimum performance. The utility continuously balances financial decisions that affect its ability to fund capital investments, thus reducing debt and managing costs that ultimately impact its rates. It consistently evaluates and aligns its performance to ensure that it stays competitive.
Macon Water Authority
2012 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Macon Water Authority has focused on being a truly progressive, proactive and community-centered partner with residents and businesses. Areas of focus include: community involvement, such as land donations, park creation, financial support for industry development and environmental stewardship of local rivers; revamping of Customer Care and Field Services; voluntary development of a watershed protection plan; proactive leadership roles in regional planning, both economic and environmental; proactive approach to asset management, including a full mapping of assets and a GIS focus; valve exercising, manhole rehab and meter replacement projects; a long-range water audit program to ensure all water production is properly accounted for; strong financial stewardship and planning; and annual financial support for the Macon/Bibb County Industrial Authority.
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s strategic plan sets the stage for agency-wide improvement and metrics-driven performance to meet four strategic goals: operations, customer service, capital investment and sustainability. Its expansive watershed protection program guarantees the safety and quality of the water supply while promoting recreation and sustainable economic development. The utility is working to optimize operations by improving the function and maintenance of its linear infrastructure and installing automated meter-reading technology. Over the next ten years, it plans to invest $14 billion in capital projects to meet regulatory requirements and ensure long-term system sustainability, and will invest $1.5 billion in green infrastructure by 2030.
Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department incorporates the goals of its performance management plan into individual employee work plans and strives to improve its human capital through hands-on training, site visits and expert in-house seminars. In 2009, the utility’s AAA bond rating was reaffirmed due in part to its strategic long-range planning and asset management program. Financial planning allows for better implementation of necessary infrastructure improvements, particularly through automatic annual indexing of customer rates. Environmental stewardship is reflected through total water management, and its environmental footprint is reduced through conservation, energy efficiency and green house gas emissions reduction.
Prince William County Service Authority
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
Prince William County Service Authority (PWCSA) significantly upgraded its strategic plan by expanding and realigning its goals, strategies and practices. Operating savings overcame unit demand reductions to maintain financial strength while allowing for continued competitive, highly affordable rates. The utility produces best-in-class customer service metrics through training and process improvements. It created the Northern Virginia Learning Center of Excellence for Water and Wastewater Utilities, enabling 14 member utilities to share training costs. Every asset is located in GIS and linked to a comprehensive maintenance management system, and a fully funded replacement reserve can accommodate needs identified by a robust condition assessment program.
Saint Paul Regional Water Services
2012 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) takes seriously its mission to provide reliable, quality water and services at a reasonable cost and implements the mission daily in matters both large and small. Investment has been made in infrastructure and treatment process to improve the taste of the drinking water. SPRWS has provided its customers with greater access to their accounts and to pay bills, via the Web and a 24-hour phone line. The utility’s capital expenditures increased steadily through the past several years to fund an annual pipe replacement schedule of 10 to 11 miles per year. In addition, SPRWS has been fiscally prudent through all its investments in the future, increasing its Standard and Poor’s financial rating from AA+ to AAA.
Suffolk County Water Authority
2012 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Suffolk County Water Authority maintains a state-of-the-art laboratory that goes beyond regulatory requirements to ensure the water it delivers is of the highest quality. Fiscal management is strong, as evidenced by its current bond ratings of AAA and AA+ issued by Fitch and Standard & Poor’s, respectively. The management team makes the utility more efficient, transparent and accountable through the creation of annual goals and objectives, finding creative sources of alternative revenues and cutting expenditures not core to its mission of providing the highest quality water at the lowest possible price. The utility embraces new technologies, actively participates in protection of its sole source aquifer and strives to provide exemplary service to customers.