Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
AMWA’s Sustainable Water Utility Management Award, introduced in 2014, recognizes member utilities that have made a commitment to sustainable management. There are many opportunities available to water utilities to manage sustainably; each water system has its own water resource needs, infrastructure issues, financial position, political issues, energy costs, and other challenges.
This award views sustainability through a triple bottom line lens. Winners will have achieved a balance of innovative and successful efforts in areas of economic, social, and environmental endeavors, such as responsible management of resources, protection of public health, meeting responsibilities to the community, and providing cost-effective services to ratepayers.
The Sustainability Award is the third step in AMWA’s awards programs and is the only one of these awards that can be earned more than once. Member utilities can apply for their first Sustainability Award three years or more after winning a Platinum Award. After winning a Sustainability Award, they are eligible to apply for the award again when three years or more have elapsed.
Recent Award Winners
Atlanta Department of Watershed Management
2023 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
The Atlanta Department of Watershed Management (DWM) has achieved fiscal strength and invested in crucial capital projects since receiving the Sustainable Water Utility Management Award in 2017. They prioritize financial resilience by managing utility costs and balancing long-term debt, asset value, revenues, and expenses, resulting in stable rates. Their sound fiscal practices led to an upgrade in the Fitch credit rating to AA in November 2021. DWM is also focusing on green infrastructure to address flooding and water quality issues while adapting to rapid growth and climate change.
Beaver Water District
2023 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Beaver Water District (BWD) is a model of sustainable water utility management, emphasizing excellence in daily operations. Their Source Water Protection efforts involve dedicated funds to reduce sediment and nutrient loading in Beaver Lake, and they also employ various eco-friendly practices, including oil analysis, LED lighting, and recycling. Stakeholder engagement is vital, with educational programs and a Crisis Communication Plan that fosters trust within their community.
Birmingham Water Works
2023 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Birmingham Water Works (BWW), Alabama's largest water utility, serves 770,000 people in a geographically complex service area. Their 2022-2026 Strategic Plan emphasizes sustainability through financial stability, infrastructure integrity, and environmental stewardship. They focus on maintaining competitive water rates and effective communication with the public and stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and healthy future.
Contra Costa Water District
2023 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) in California, following their 2020 AMWA Sustainability Award win, remains committed to sustainable water management, financial responsibility, and exceptional customer service. Their comprehensive infrastructure plans, with a forward-looking perspective of up to fifty years, address customer needs. They also play a leadership role in preserving Delta water quality and regional water supply reliability. CCWD employs long-term and near-term strategies to manage water supplies efficiently, treating water in state-of-the-art plants to meet public health requirements.
Mesa Water Resources Department
2023 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Mesa Water Resources Department is a forward-thinking utility committed to effective water management. The department has significantly reduced its reliance on non-renewable groundwater supplies and achieves 100 percent reuse of reclaimed water, contributing to resource conservation. The city's Climate Action Plan leads to strategic investments in water infrastructure, including smart meters for real-time water use monitoring, promoting conservation, and the installation of green infrastructure. The utility also builds trust within the community through educational efforts like the "Know Your H2O" program.
Portland Water District
2023 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Portland Water District (PWD), as Maine's largest water and wastewater utility, emphasizes sustainable practices and long-term reliability. They actively participate in the Maine Water Assistance Program, providing substantial financial aid to households in need. Water resource protection is a priority, with robust land conservation efforts and partnerships like the Sebago Clean Waters initiative. In 2020, they secured $8 million for land conservation in the Sebago Lake watershed.
Coachella Valley Water District
2022 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) is a first-time sustainable award winner. The district demonstrates its commitment to sustainability in water supply, operations, disadvantaged communities, and customer programs. CVWD has invested in and implemented large water importation projects to replenish extracted groundwater. The utility also uses recycled water for landscape irrigation. CVWD also founded a Disadvantaged Communities Infrastructure Task Force, which plans, coordinates, and identifies opportunities for water and sewer infrastructure projects in disadvantaged communities; identifies funding opportunities; reports on progress; and discusses potential barriers to help disadvantaged communities receive grant funding for infrastructure projects.
Fort Wayne City Utilities
2022 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Fort Wayne City Utilities is a second-time sustainable award winner. Since receiving its first award in 2019, the utility has continued to demonstrate an immense commitment to protecting and responsibly using natural, financial, and human resources. Fort Wayne City Utilities is currently designing a state-of-the-art Microgrid Solutions to help the utility better utilize existing generation assets, improve electrical demand profile, increase resiliency to utility outages, and allow for easy implementation of renewable generation resources. By 2023, the utility will have installed 5 megawatts (MW) solar array that will float on its wet weather ponds, energy storage batteries, and an additional 4.5 MW of NG driven generation.
Fort Worth Water
2022 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Fort Worth Water demonstrates its commitment to effective utility management and sustainability in several areas. Of note, the utility established a career pipeline, P-TECH, with a local school district and college to enable high school students to graduate with water and trade certifications and associate’s degrees. The utility also revamped its leak detection efforts to reduce actual loss, avoided rate increases in three of the past four years because of customer growth and more accurate metering, and eliminated all known city-side lead service lines from the system. A new biosolids facility replaces belt presses with a drum dryer to create a pelletized product having 90 percent of the water content removed, with an anticipated 40 percent reduction in operating costs and savings of almost $2 million annually.
San Antonio Water System
2022 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
San Antonio Water System (SAWS) has continued to make strides in fiscal management, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility since winning its first sustainable award in 2019. In April 2020, SAWS started receiving 50,000 acre-feet per year of water from the Vista Ridge Project. The benefits include decreased reliance on the Edwards Aquifer from 66 percent in 2019 to 51 percent of total water supply in 2022; improved Edwards Aquifer spring flows and endangered species habitats; and increased resilience to any climate-related adverse impacts to water sources. SAWS also kept rates affordable for its constituents during the pandemic and in response to 2021 Winter Storm Uri led a drive raising over $1.1 million dollars to help provide repairs to over 1,100 low-income households.
Denver Water
2021 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Denver Water is a second time sustainable award winner. The utility strives to improve operations and protect its surrounding ecosystems and communities. The utility has formal goals to reduce carbon emissions, improve energy use to maintain net-energy neutrality, expand renewable energy resources, and improve green infrastructure. Denver Water has undertaken one of the largest public health initiatives in its history, a 15-year planned effort to replace 64,000 to 84,000 decades-old lead service lines owned by its customers. The utility also partners with government agencies to maintain and improve the burned areas of priority watersheds, including planting more than a million trees.
Knoxville Utilities Board
2021 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Knoxville Utilities Board is the first-time winner of the Sustainable Water Utility Management Award. Knoxville Utilities Board makes the right investments in its utility systems and develops and promotes environmentally sustainable initiatives within its operations and through its programs. The utility participates in Green Invest, the City of Knoxville Mayor’s Climate Council, and the Water Quality Forum to continuously improve its commitment to environmental stewardship and protection of local water sources. KUB’s sound financial structure and management ensure al sustainability initiatives are well-funded and balanced annually.