Water Associations, EPA Release Case Studies for Effective Utility Management Practices
May 18, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
Six associations representing the U.S. water and wastewater sector, in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), released Effective Water and Wastewater Utility Management Case Studies, a companion document to Effective Utility Management: A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities, which came out in 2008.
This companion piece provides examples and "how-to" assistance for utility managers through profiles of four utilities that successfully applied the "primer" concepts and tools to advance management practices and achieve long-term sustainability, according to the Water Environment Foundation (WEF).
The Effective Utility Management (EUM) collaborating associations include:
- The American Public Works Association.
- American Water Works Association.
- Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies.
- National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
- National Association of Water Companies.
- WEF.
- EPA.
The organizations have been working together over the past two years to promote utility management across the water sector based on a series of Ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Utilities (Attributes) and Five Keys to Management Success (Keys) first identified in a report released by the group in May 2007.
The new case study document illustrates how four utilities used the Attributes and Keys, along with example measures and a self-assessment tool found in the Primer, to improve management operations, bring a cost-effective focus to their initiatives and supplement both their internal and external communications, according to the WEF.
Selected from a list of 16 utilities from across the country, Columbus Water Works (Georgia), Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District (Wisconsin), Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources (Georgia) and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (Massachusetts) all faced a range of challenges in their management improvement efforts and found that the Primer concepts and tools significantly aided their efforts, said WEF experts.
"These case studies demonstrate that the management, attributes and measurement tools included in the EUM Primer can help water and wastewater utilities set priorities, meet challenges and implement improvements," said John Young, president of American Water Services at American Water Works Service Co.
"The document further shows that the EUM's practical, user-friendly resources have been successfully used to enhance customer service and the integrity of utilities with varying size, customer needs and operating challenges," he said.
Overall, the experiences of the profiled utilities indicate that the Primer provides a set of tools and concepts for undertaking and improving upon existing utility management improvement efforts, according to WEF.
In addition to the Primer and the case studies document, the EUM also has an online resource toolbox that contains links to resources and tools.
Source: Water Environment Federation (WEF).