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
Greenville Utilities Commission
2018 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Greenville Utilities Commission’s (GUC) mission is to enhance the quality of life for those it serves by safely providing reliable utility solutions at the lowest reasonable cost, with exceptional customer service in an environmentally responsible manner. Strategic plan goals include employee workforce development, financial stability, water supply sustainability, exceptional customer service, water quality and environmental leadership, and infrastructure investment and management. The staff at GUC’s water treatment plant met the goals to earn the Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP) Award from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for the past three years. The AWOP requirements are more stringent than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s existing regulations, helping GUC achieve higher levels of water quality.
Baltimore City Department of Public Works
2017 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) embraces change management, sets smart, achievable goals, and plans for long-term continuous improvement and sustainable change. By utilizing stakeholder values and beliefs, DPW created a strategic plan with measurable objectives and timeframes, built goal teams comprised of employees from all areas of the organization, introduced a performance monitoring and guiding office, and reorganized the utility’s structure to break down silos and facilitate intra-agency communication and workflow. Empowering front-line staff was essential to meeting customer expectations for clean water, a clean city and effective access to DPW services.
Great Lakes Water Authority
2017 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Since its standup in 2016, Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) has achieved continual provision of water of unquestionable quality and efficient sewer services; two upgrades of its bond ratings; and execution of an inaugural $1.3 billion bond sale. GLWA also launched a program to provide qualifying households with help in paying current and past-due bills. It inaugurated an Apprenticeship Program for Electrical Instrumentation Control Technicians and created a leadership-training academy to build employees’ leadership skills. The Authority developed an asset management governance structure and continued focus on its environmental impact with the operation of its new Biosolids Dryer Facility.
Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust
2017 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The Oklahoma City Utilities Department and Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust strive to meet the city’s growth by securing surface water rights through a groundbreaking water rights agreement. The department develops leadership opportunities for employees across all divisions by encouraging safe workforce practices, accountability and customer service. Its Standard and Poor’s (AAA) and Moody’s (Aaa) bond ratings were reaffirmed in 2015, and strong financial principles place it in the top 5.5 percent of water utilities nationwide. A strategic business plan helps it weigh community needs against available capital and personnel resources with 59 key strategies to continually monitor progress and make improvements.
Central Arizona Project
2016 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The Central Arizona Project (CAP) plays a critical economic role, delivering more than 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water annually to municipal, industrial, agricultural and Native American water users. CAP works collaboratively with customers, government agencies, water users in the seven basin states and the Republic of Mexico to address regional water supply issues. The agency helped develop cooperative interstate and international agreements designed to conserve Colorado River water and ensure the continued reliability and sustainability of that shared water supply. It employs open, transparent budgeting and rate-setting processes, and a recent assessment found CAP’s asset management program led all surveyed North American utilities.
City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities
2016 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities’ (DPU) Enterprise Asset Management Plan assists in coordinating planning and management of projects across the city and includes components to maintain inventory and maintenance schedules, track key performance indicators and capture Standard Operating Procedures in a centralized location. DPU has continually been in compliance with all federal and state drinking water requirements and new technologies have been adopted to improve operational efficiencies. The Department engages and educates customers through its website, newsletters, social media posts and advertising. DPU staff present information at community meetings, and a Citizens’ Academy was developed to provide a more in-depth look at utility operations.
Coachella Valley Water District
2016 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) is a multi-faceted California Special District serving more than 318,000 people across a 1,000 square-mile area in portions of Riverside and Imperial counties. Services include drinking water for homes and businesses, irrigation water imported from the Colorado River, recycled water for golf course and landscape-related use, wastewater treatment, regional stormwater protection, groundwater basin management and conservation programs and education for customers. Strategic plan goals include employee workforce development, financial stability, water supply sustainability, exceptional customer service, water quality and environmental leadership, and infrastructure investment and management. Progress is measured using the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) matrix.
Montgomery County Environmental Services
2016 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Montgomery County Environmental Services provides high quality water, wastewater, solid waste and recycling service to citizens in Southwest Ohio. Its innovative “block and index” energy purchasing strategy has allowed the utility, since 2013, to reduce energy costs by 15 percent. Leadership development is addressed through a cross-department Executive Steering Team and a Managers Bookclub for middle management, which provides training in team building, effective communication and understanding personal strengths and weaknesses. The department also opened a state-of-the-art Environmental Learning Center, constructed with sustainable building materials and designed to educate citizens about utility services, waste reduction, recycling and water conservation.
Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans
2016 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
In recent years, the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB) coordinated a massive rebuilding of destroyed infrastructure with the city’s Department of Public Works, accelerating the timeframe of recovery and saving taxpayers millions of dollars of unnecessary duplicative efforts. A $2.1 billion Hurricane Katrina FEMA settlement was negotiated and the funds used to construct the Southeast Louisiana (SELA) drainage program to prevent street flooding in parts of the city previously damaged by heavy rains. The utility is also constructing a Water Hammer to mitigate boil water advisories and is replacing 124 miles of water lines. S&WB has produced seven green infrastructure projects and is planning a green roof for its main office downtown.
Fort Collins Utilities
2015 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Fort Collins Utilities has put in place numerous processes for exceptional utility performance, starting with ISO Certification for Environmental Management for its water treatment facility. The water system benefits from a robust strategic financial planning process, an asset management program that includes infrastructure modeling and capital improvement planning, and use of a continuous improvement cycle. Customer satisfaction and stakeholder understanding efforts garner high grades. An extensive water rights portfolio ensures access to water in even the driest years and a rigorous testing program assures high-quality finished water.
Greenville Water
2014 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Greenville Water has completed the first formal Natural Resources Management Plan for two of its watersheds and obtained a permitted water resource portfolio from three separate watersheds that can sustain its service area with water for over 56 years. The utility actively engages its stakeholders through its economic development, community giving and public outreach programs and implemented the Greenville Water Leadership Academy to provide in-house leadership training to supervisory employees. It maintains AAA bond ratings with all three major bond-rating agencies, developed a formal asset management system to more accurately prioritize and budget water main replacements and updated its security and emergency response plan and training.
Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority
2014 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, a wholesale water supplier to four county members in southwest Florida, has secured a reliable, sustainable and affordable water supply for the residents of the region and provides the infrastructure for business development, economic recovery and prosperity.Through the creation of public and private partnerships, the Authority successfully completed an extensive expansion program over the past decade, utilizing alternative water supply in lieu of groundwater pumping. The Authority has been a model in the state in development of alternative water supply through surface water storage by off-stream reservoir and aquifer storage and recovery systems.