Effective Water Utility Management

Jim Newton, P.E., DEE

Course Outline

This four-hour course provides valuable information for those individuals who participate in the operations and management of drinking water and wastewater utilities.  Completion of this course will provide the student the necessary information and testing to meet the continuing education requirements in order to renew their licenses.  It was designed by an instructor who has developed and implemented numerous similar training courses. 

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Understand what effective utility management means;
• Understand the ten attributes of an effectively managed utility;
• Understand the five keys to management success;
• Understand how to begin developing a program;
• Understand how to measure progress;
• Understand the importance of product quality;
• Understand customer satisfaction;
• Understand employee and leadership development;
• Understand operational optimization;
• Understand financial viability;
• Understand infrastructure stability;
• Understand operational resiliency;
• Understand community sustainability;
• Understand water resource adequacy;
• Understand stakeholder understanding and support;
• Understand the importance of leadership;
• Understand strategic business planning;
• Understand organizational approaches;
• Understand the importance of measurement;
• Understand how important continual improvement is;
• Understand how to assess current conditions;
• Understand how to rank the importance of the attributes;
• Understand how to graph the results;
• Understand how to choose important attributes;
• Understand how to develop and implement an improvement plan;
• Understand the two types of performance measurements;
• Understand the guidelines for choosing measurements;
• Understand targeted attribute related measurements;
• Understand important resources available to utilities;
• Understand key definitions; and
• Understand how to conduct a self-assessment.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this course is any professional who is involved in the operation and management of a water or wastewater utility.

Benefit to Attendees

Attendees of this course will under stand the ten attributes of an effectively managed water sector utility, the five keys to management success, the five steps to beginning, and the ways to measure success.

Course Introduction

Water and wastewater utilities across the country face common challenges. These include rising costs, aging infrastructure, increasingly stringent regulatory require­ments, population changes, and a rapidly changing workforce. While many utility managers find themselves turning from one urgent priority to the next, others have systematically applied effective utility management approaches that have helped them improve their products and services, increase com­munity support, and ensure a strong and viable utility long into the future.

Effective utility management can help water and wastewater utili­ties enhance the stewardship of their infrastructure, improve per­formance in many critical areas, and respond to current and future challenges. Addressing these challenges also requires ongoing col­laboration between government, industry, elected officials, and oth­er stakeholders.

This course is derived from a collaboration effort  between

• Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA)
• American Public Works Association (APWA)
• American Water Works Association (AWWA)
• National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)
• National Association of Water Companies (NAWC)
• United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Water Environment Federation (WEF)

Course Content

This course is based upon the following US EPA document:

Effective Utility Management: A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities (PDF file, 52 pages, 3.6 MB)

Lecture Slides (PDF file, 22 pages, 0.5 MB)

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Because this course is offered as a "live" course, you are required to attend the webinar at the scheduled time and date. Please check the Webinar Schedule under course description on our website for scheduled meeting date and time. We will send you an invitation through email approximately 24 hours before the webinar (confirmation of the receipt of the invitation is required). The certificate of completion will not be issued unless you attend the webinar and pass a quiz. Thank you for your cooperation.

Course Summary

This course discusses the need for, the benefits of and the elements of effectively managing a water and/or wastewater utility.

Related Links

For additional information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

US Environmental Protection Agency

Quiz

Before you attend the webinar, you need to print the quiz questions from your browser for your study during the webinar. At the end of the webinar, you need to complete the quiz and submit your answers to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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