Water and wastewater utilities now have access to a new package of tools designed by their peers in six collaborating associations and the US Environmental Protection Agency to advance effective management practices to achieve long-term sustainability.
As recently announced by the Effective Utility Management coalition, which includes AWWA, the package of tools includes the downloadable Effective Utility Management Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities. The free primer aims to help water and wastewater utility managers make practical, systematic changes to achieve excellence in utility performance.
The primer details five phases for improving utility management – from assessing current conditions, ranking the importance, graphing results, and choosing attributes through developing and implementing an improvement plan.
The document distills the expertise and experience of participating utility leaders into a framework intended to help other managers “identify and address their most pressing needs through a customized, incremental approach that is relevant to the day-to-day challenges utilities face.”
It also reiterates the 10 attributes of effectively managed water utilities and five keys to management success first identified last year in a report released by the group, which also produced a series of suggested performance measures that allow a utility to establish a baseline against which to measure its progress.
The coalition also launched a new Web site that serves as a hub for accessing relevant resources available from each organization.
Other coalition members include the American Public Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Association of Water Companies, Water Environment Federation, and USEPA, which has made better utility management a major focus.
Source: AWWA, 1 Jul 2008
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