Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance recognizes member water systems that exhibit high levels of performance in the areas of product quality, customer satisfaction, employee and leadership development, operational optimization, financial viability, community sustainability, enterprise resiliency, infrastructure strategy and performance, stakeholder understanding and support, and water resource sustainability. These are the ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Utilities identified in 2007 by a blue ribbon panel of water and wastewater utility executives.
Any AMWA member utility that has never won a Gold Award is eligible to apply for the Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance.
- Example Gold Award-Winning Application

Recent Award Winners
The City of Irving Water Utilities Department
2022 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The City of Irving Water Utilities Department is a regional water leader that tackles water supply issues and expands supply resources. Employing a customer-centric ethic, the utility meets the needs of a growing and diverse community, from improving procedures in water quality sampling to implementing a new customer portal to increase communication. The system has among the lowest rates in the region without compromising infrastructure maintenance and renewal, using Advanced Metering Infrastructure, large meter testing, and a thorough meter replacement plan to ensure accurate billing and asset management. The utility also strengthens the skills of its workforce by facilitating the licensing of water professionals.
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority
2022 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) is a regional leader in water treatment to remove PFAS. This year, CFPUA will bring a new deep-bed Granular Activated Carbon filter technology online at its primary water treatment plant, a $46 million investment to ensure the quality of the water provided to customers. Through CFPUA’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan totaling $511 million, the utility has a consistent focus on rehabilitation and replacement of aging infrastructure, resulting in significant decreases in sewer and water line breaks. Providing strong customer service is also central to CFPUA initiatives. Between 2017 and 2021, CFPUA implemented an Enterprise Resource Planning solution that improved customers’ ease of doing business, from an online self-service portal to more accurate and efficient meter reading.
Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority
2021 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority is the second largest supplier of drinking water in the state of Georgia. It is one of only a few utilities in the nation that has an organic AAA bond rating from all three major rating agencies and has won multiple awards from the Georgia Association of Water Professionals. Cobb County-Marietta has worked diligently over the last five years to reduce the number of pipeline failures, energy use, and per-capita consumption of water in its service area. Cobb County-Marietta also has a record of zero quality regulatory violations in the 11 years – setting high industry standards.
Rochester Public Utilities
2020 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) has no water debt obligations and provides one of the lowest water rates in Minnesota. Its investment in mobile technologies and other efficiencies has resulted in more time spent serving customers. Over the past few years, RPU has collaborated with Rochester Public Works to plan joint replacement projects of aging infrastructure. The capital improvement plan includes the top 20 highest risk score water main sections being replaced in the next five years. As part of its sustainability study with state agencies, RPU protects groundwater sources to ensure long-term supply of drinking water while maintaining its precious natural resources.
Seattle Public Utilities
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU)
- Serves a population of 1.3 million people in the greater Seattle metropolitan area.
- 1,300 employees and a budget of $462 million for 2001.
- Water system includes the Tolt and Cedar River watersheds and a small aquifer, as well as approximately 176 miles of supply mains and 460 millions gallons of storage capacity in transmission and distribution reservoirs, supporting nearly 150 mgd average water use.
Spartanburg Water System
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Spartanburg Water System
- Provides direct service to a population of approximately 110,000, and supplies water to nine wholesale customers serving a secondary population of approximately 73,000.
- Operates three surface water reservoirs and two treatment facilities with a combined capacity of 79 mgd.
- 188 employees and an annual budget of approximately $22 million.
Topeka Water
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Topeka Water
- System includes a 63 mgd treatment plant, an 800-mile distribution system, 10 towers and reservoirs and nine pump stations.
- Service population is 51,000 connections serving approximately 165,000 customers.
- Employees number 108 and the annual budget is $18 million.
Phoenix Water Services Department
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Phoenix Water Services Department
- Serves 345,000 water accounts and 1.3 million people.
- Operates five water treatment plants with a combined capacity of about 630 mgd.
- Annual operating budget of about $205 million and a five-year capital improvement budget of about $1.5 billion.
Portland (Maine) Water District
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Portland Water District, Maine
- Provides water, wastewater and environmental services to 10 communities.
- Serves approximately 46,000 customer accounts, or 171,000 people, with its 190 employees.
- Manages $215 million in assets operating over approximately 140 square miles.
- Has an annual operating budget of $28.9 million and a $10 million capital improvement budget.
Philadelphia Water Department
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Philadelphia Water Department (PWD)
- Approximately 2,100 employees.
- Operates three water plants treating an average of approximately 300 million gallons of river water each day and maintains approximately 3,300 miles of water mains.
- Supplies drinking water to 1.5 million retail customers in the City of Philadelphia and another 150,000 residents of Lower Bucks County.
- Annual operating budget of approximately $427,527,000.
Las Vegas Valley Water District
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD)
- Largest municipal water purveyor in the state of Nevada serving over 890,000 individuals, plus over 30 million tourists per year.
- 919 employees.
- Annual operating budget exceeding $261 million.
- LVVWD manages a local water system comprised of 35 reservoirs, 44 pumping stations, 2,771 miles of pipeline with a maximum capacity of 600 mgd.
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
- MWRA is the wholesale water provider to 60 communities and 2.5 million people in metropolitan Boston and central Massachusetts.
- MWRA provides about 250 mgd.
- In FY01 MWRA has 1576 employees and an annual current expense budget of $498 million.