For Release October 29, 2001                                       

Contact:              Michael Arceneaux, 202-331-2820

michael@amwa.net

Carolyn Peterson, 202-331-2820

Carolyn@amwa.net

San Francisco, Calif. – Through strategic thinking and competitive achievements, metropolitan water utility managers across the country are positioning their systems to meet the future needs and high expectations of drinking water consumers and municipal government leaders.   Today, at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), twenty-four public water utilities were honored for their significant accomplishments with Gold Awards for Competitiveness Achievement.

" AMWA's 24 Gold Award-winning water agencies are setting the pace for utility management practices to ensure success in an increasingly competitive environment," said AMWA Executive Director Diane VanDe Hei. "To meet competitive challenges, these municipal water leaders are employing exceptional management practices, creating new financial courses, seeking new growth opportunities and meeting customer needs on every front."

AMWA's 2001 Gold Awards for Competitiveness Achievement were awarded to:

City of Akron Public Utilities Bureau

City of Albuquerque Water Utility

Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility

Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works Bureau of Utility Operations

City of Austin Water and Wastewater Utility

City of Atlanta Department of Water

City of Chicago Department of Water

Greater Cincinnati Water Works

Des Moines Water Works

East Bay Municipal Utility District

El Paso Water Utilities

Green Bay Water Utility

Knoxville Utilities Board

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Orange County Water Division

City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department

City of St. Louis Water Division

Saint Paul Regional Water Services

Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities

Tacoma Water

Tampa Water Department

Tualatin Valley Water District

Tucson Water

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

"Consumers and public officials have reason to salute the achievements of the award-winning agencies that serve their communities," VanDe Hei said.  "AMWA's Gold Award winners are in the top ranks of the nation's best-operated water systems.  They stand as innovative and successful representatives of public owned drinking water suppliers and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments."

"Publicly owned water systems face unique challenges that are not faced by private water companies, including civil service and procurement laws, as well as other social obligations," VanDe Hei said. "At the same time, consumers call for better and less costly service, and local government leaders wisely demand the use of best business practices in water system operations. Even in the face of these challenges, well-run public owned water systems compete with the best private companies," she added.

AMWA’s Gold Award entries were judged by experienced and respected water system executives.  The judges looked at each utility's benchmarking and competitiveness strategy and assessed competitiveness improvement initiatives in the areas of plant, maintenance, engineering, finance, administration and employee development.  Winners met goals for overall efficiency, cost of operation and quality of service.  Many successfully used labor-management task forces to reengineer work process, had strong ongoing programs for evaluating customer satisfaction and employed proactive measures to ensure or improve their bond ratings.  They also had forward-looking plans for systematically replacing and rehabilitating their production and delivery system infrastructure to help ensure adequate future water supplies. 

AMWA is a nonprofit organization of the nation's largest publicly owned water systems, represented within the association by their CEOs.  Collectively, AMWA member-agencies serve more than 110 million people with clean, safe water.

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