Award Winners
Santa Rosa Water
2015 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Santa Rosa Water uses an integrated approach to manage the community’s water resources, enhance customer service and raise awareness about water-related issues. It helps customers conserve water, manages an extensive storm drain system and enhances the health of its watershed. The utility conducts in-depth rate setting processes, leads innovative efforts to conserve water and energy, consistently budgets capital improvements and reserve funds, beneficially reuses recycled water, and provides outreach, education and technical assistance to its customers.
Scottsdale Water
2015 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
Prior to the early 1980s, Scottsdale Water relied 100 percent on groundwater for its drinking water supplies. Today, through strategic planning, innovation and community support, it has a diverse water portfolio with approximately 90 percent of its drinking water coming from renewable surface water supplies. The utility operates sophisticated indirect potable reuse facilities and recharges an average of 1.4 billion gallons of purified recycled water into the aquifer annually – pumping less groundwater out of the aquifer than it recharges back in since 2006.
South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority
2015 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
The South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority strategic plan sets a course to reduce costs and target inefficiencies. It developed a 10-year financial stability model, instituted workforce flexibility and succession planning, optimized operations to reduce costs and increase product quality, and made safety a strategic focus. The Authority maintains a customer satisfaction index of over 90 percent. It focuses on employee and leadership development; ensures operational resiliency and continuity of operations; contributes to regional sustainability; and provides efficient, sustainable capital planning and delivery.
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
2015 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) replaces its water mains at a rate of 55-plus miles per year and mitigates the potential damage of large-diameter pre-stressed, concrete cylinder pipe by using breakthrough acoustic fiber optics technology. The utility obtains 28 percent of its electric power needs from wind power and has solar power projects at two wastewater treatment plants. Its budget includes a ratepayer-supported Customer Assistance Program. A restructured debt program and transformed supply chain management saves WSSC tens of millions of dollars.
Water Works Board of the City of Birmingham
2015 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
The Water Works Board of the City of Birmingham plans for future growth in the region to ensure the system is viable for future generations. To provide for long-term viability, the utility’s capital improvement plan averages $59 million each year, which supports system-wide infrastructure improvement and growth. A Rate Stabilization and Equalization approach helps ensure financial and economic stability with adequate operating, capital, debt service and reserve funds. A watershed protection policy, developed with stakeholder involvement, provides guidelines for development near its key water source.
Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority
2014 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority’s commitment to sustainable practices includes financial conservatism to safeguard customers’ trust and to protect its strong rating in the borrowing community. Its asset management program allows funds for needed upgrades as system demands increase, technology changes or regulatory requirements change. The utility consistently produces high quality drinking water, its staff works to protect source water quality and available quantity, and an extensive reclaimed water system allows reduced use of potable water as an irrigation source. The Authority plays a key role in promoting community economic development and, through local alliances and block grants, leverages funds to ensure critical water services are available to all areas of the community.
Chicago Department of Water Management
2014 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
The Chicago Department of Water Management’s 10-year capital program includes 880 miles of water main replacement, converting three of its four pump stations from steam to electric and more than 200,000 meter installations. To continue to be resilient, resourceful and reliable, the Department is incorporating facility and security assessments, changing work rules, executing competitive contracts, and coordinating with other agencies, utilities and departments. It is continually training employees to ensure workplace safety, implementing creative and traditional funding to avoid overburdening future generations, and incorporating and optimizing timely, cost-effective, reliable and sustainable performance improvements in all aspects of its operations.
City of Boca Raton Utility Services Department
2014 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
The City of Boca Raton Utility Services Department uses a comprehensive water sustainability plan that expands beyond water operations and includes wastewater plus other alternative water sources to sustain its natural water source. Highlights include an ocean outfall program to save and recycle groundwater and a reclaimed water program that recharges the aquifer, prevents salt-water intrusion and provides a cost-effective water source for irrigation. A water conservation public education program contributed to a 25 percent reduction in water use. The utility’s reliability centered maintenance program has been critical to maintaining assets, and a proactive capital improvement program allows for long-term financial viability.
City of Henderson Department of Utility Services
2014 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
The assets of the City of Henderson Department of Utility Services are managed through a comprehensive asset management program that focuses on long-term planned maintenance. The utility is actively planning for increased investment in the maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of its aging infrastructure. Through aggressive conservation, the city currently uses roughly the same amount of water it did nearly seven years ago despite adding more than 30,000 new residents. The utility also maximizes the use of water resources through an extensive reclaimed system. To meet challenges associated with increased growth and climate change, it works cooperatively with regional agencies and stakeholders to define and implement a coordinated watershed management and protection effort.
Columbus Water Works
2014 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
The Columbus Water Works has coordinated numerous planning cycles (facilities master plan, asset management, strategic planning, IT master planning, energy management planning and financial planning) to provide a comprehensive financial plan. The utility employs active water resource management planning with other stakeholder interests in its basin, tight operational controls, performance measures and a community-wide sewer system to yield a high rate of returned flow, allowing for limited consumptive use. It closely manages its power grid demands, shedding load and saving money by timely ramping up on-site power generation at water resource facilities.
El Paso Water Utilities
2014 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award
El Paso Water Utilities shares water resources with three states and two countries, which dictates a proactive water management strategy focused on policy, planning and technology. Sustainability for the utility means protecting public health by producing clean, safe water from renewable resources while meeting applicable regulatory standards. Guided by its strategic plan and with input from key constituents and stakeholders, the water system has aggressively implemented its strategic goals and objectives. It participates in national benchmarking surveys and receives high marks for performance in all areas. Average residential bills are among the lowest in the Southwest, largely due to gains in operational efficiency and a commitment to continuous process improvement principles.
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.