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 community sustainability, customer experience and satisfaction, enterprise resiliency, financial viability, infrastructure strategy and performance, operational optimization, reliability and regulatory requirements, stakeholder understanding and support, water resource sustainability, and workforce development. These are the ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Utilities identified in 2007 by a blue ribbon panel of water and wastewater utility executives and revised in the 2024 Effective Utility Management: A Primer for Water Sector Utilities. 

Any AMWA member utility that has never won a Gold Award is eligible to apply for the Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance.

Gold Award

Recent Award Winners

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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.
Achievement Highlights: Topeka Water, like many other water utilities, has operated an aging infrastructure that needs significant capital investment. At the same time, revenue growth was flat, operating costs were rising and customers were becoming vocal against significant rate increases. The following strategies were adopted: Phased capital projects consider financial restraints and better meet customer needs. Revenue enhancement opportunities were explored. Customer base growth became a key to better returns on existing investments. Completion of an aggressive meter change out program and negotiating wholesale water contracts achieved early revenue growth success. Operations and maintenance costs had to be controlled with the need to be competitive with private utilities. An aggressive staffing and process optimization program saved more than one million dollars in the first year. Many activities that were historically performed by in-house resources have been outsourced. Other changes include supervisor leadership skills, standard operating procedures, computerized mapping systems, computerized maintenance work orders, labor / management meetings, employee teams, training programs, and an enhanced safety program. Customer service has improved significantly with the adoption of new customer payment options and a charitable program that collects donations to help less fortunate customers with their utility payments. Customer complaints about red water and yard cleanups have dramatically reduced even though the work in customer yards has gone up over seven-fold.

Tualatin Valley Water District

2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
Located in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, Tualatin Valley Water District provides full water service to parts of three cities and unincorporated Washington County. The District is recognized for its competitive service and uses that competitive edge to obtain contracts to provide service to other agencies. In 2000, the City of Sherwood, the fastest growing city in Oregon during the '90s, selected the District to be its water operator and manager. In 2001, the Valley View Water District also selected the District for its O&M. Through a competitive bidding process in 2000 the city of Beaverton, Oregon chose the District to provide meter reading service. Meter reading services were reengineered, and a productivity meter reading pay program was established. Merit based pay for performance is applied to all District employees, who are not rewarded for longevity but for contributions they make to the organization each year. This resulted in a highly skilled workforce with a turnover rate just over 4 percent, with half of that due to retirements. The District's competitive pay program, strong financial position, low employee turnover and low ratio of employees per capita make it highly competitive in the water service industry.

Tucson Water Department

2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The competitiveness achievement highlights of the Tucson Water Department include its Business Office Call Center, where staffing patterns are adjusted to most responsively handle customer calls, and 80 percent of the calls are answered in 20 seconds with less than a three percent drop rate. In addition, collapsed classifications and broad-banded skills in the department's Meter Service allow it to provide more efficient use of staff. Tucson Water evaluated Automatic Meter Reading technology and made routing and program changes to produce an efficiency increase of about 25 percent. The Maintenance Management Program is currently in a multi-year program to reengineer maintenance procedures in all areas of the department. This will involve reorganization, reclassification of positions, broad-banding of positions and a new maintenance computer system. A Reengineering Steering Committee was created of employees from throughout the department elected by their peers. The Committee coordinates multiple improvement projects, including a new job-shadowing/mentoring program to provide employees with new work/career experiences. A revolutionary water quality information system provides near real-time, neighborhood-based water quality information over the Tucson Water web site. The utility's financial system reflects information-based systems, customer and policy-driven rate structures, and the integration of short- and long-range plans and budgets.

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

2001 Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) was created in 1918 by the State of Maryland to serve a 1,000 square mile bi-county area just outside Washington, D.C. For the first time in the Commission's 83-year history, it has a multi-year fiscal plan and a multi-year Blueprint for Change implementation plan which follow three parallel tracts: business strategies, cultural change and individual employee growth and development. WSSC received AAA bond ratings from all three investor agencies. Employee-led work teams have identified and implemented best practices in plants and maintenance to include flexible workforce, staffing for the baseload, importing in crisis, program driven maintenance, unstaffed operations, consolidated laboratory services, wireless access to information and incentive plans.