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Drinking water utilities honored for excellence
The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) will honor 11 public drinking water systems with its top utility management awards in ceremonies at its 2013 Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. Six systems will receive Platinum Awards for Utility Excellence and five systems will be presented Gold Awards for Exceptional Utility Performance. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in implementing the nationally recognized Attributes of Effective Utility Management.
Winners of the 2013 AMWA Platinum Awards for Utility Excellence are:
○ Ohio – City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities for its implementation of effective utility management processes including strategic planning, asset and environmental management, benchmarking and employee training.
○ Kentucky – Louisville Water Company for its various awards including the Excellence in Water Treatment Award, the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award for riverbank filtration and tunnel technology and the Excellence in Distribution System Operation Award.
○ New York – the Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA) for its development of an in-house succession planning program to enhance skills of management and supervisory personnel. OCWA invested in automated and enhanced systems for billing, accounting, asset management, work management and the employee training to see these systems operate successfully.
○ Florida – the City of Palm Bay Utilities Department (PBUD) for its incorporation of the Effective Utility Management Attributes into its daily operational procedures and processes through its Environmental Management System known as GreenWay.
○ California – the San Diego County Water Authority for featuring a staff that has scrutinized each element of the agency to eliminate inefficiencies and promote good government. Improvements were made to its Asset Management Program to provide detailed risk data in a visual format for better decision-making, and an Online Water Ordering System was adopted to improve customer service.
○ Virginia –the Western Virginia Water Authority for using technology and innovative water management practices to enhance the quality of life for its regional community.
Winners of the 2013 AMWA Gold Awards for Exceptional Utility Performance are:
○ Arkansas – Beaver Water District for its focus on performance measures that have improved its bottom line, making operations more efficient and sustainable while engaging employees.
○ Ohio – The City of Dayton Water Department for its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and its implementation of various projects for recycling and reduced energy usage.
○ Arizona – The City of Mesa Water Resources Department for its development of a plan emphasizing the use of performance measures that lead toward effective utility management, focusing on water quality, customer service, asset management and sustainability projects that protect the environment.
○ North Carolina – The City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department for its plan to organize areas of improvement with assigned champions. Management has been realigned to facilitate plan implementation and to provide new perspectives on workflow efficiencies.
○ Virginia – The City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Utilities (DPU) for its Asset Management Program with a formal planning process.
For more information visit the award program’s website.
