The Effective Utility Management Resource Toolbox
Welcome to the Effective Utility Management Resource Toolbox. The Toolbox provides links to key resources and measures designed to help the water and wastewater utility community further improve the management of its infrastructure. The toolbox is designed as a companion resource to the Effective Utility Management A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities (PDF), which provides a comprehensive overview of the attributes of effectively managed utilities, and includes a self-assessment tool for utilities and a list of measures utilities can use to assess their management efforts.
The Resource Toolbox provides a compilation of the resources from the seven organizations collaborating on the Effective Utility Management effort and is organized according to the ten attributes of effectively managed utilities and the five keys to management success.
Select either an attribute or management key from the lists below to learn more and see the available resources.
The Ten Attributes of Effective Utility Management
The Ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Water Sector Utilities provide a useful and concise reference point for utility managers seeking to improve organization-wide performance. The Attributes describe desired outcomes that are applicable to all water and wastewater utilities. They comprise a comprehensive framework related to operations, infrastructure, customer satisfaction, community welfare, natural resource stewardship, and financial performance.
The Attributes are not presented in a particular order, but rather can be viewed as a set of opportunities for improving utility management and operations. Water and wastewater utilities can use the Attributes to select priorities for improvement, based on each organization’s strategic objectives and the needs of the community it serves. More information on the Attributes is available in the Effective Utility Management Primer.
Click on the attributes below to read more and access relevant resources.
Product Quality
Produces potable water, treated effluent, and process residuals in full compliance with regulatory and reliability requirements and consistent with customer, public health, and ecological needs.
Employee and Leadership Development
Recruits and retains a workforce that is competent, motivated, adaptive, and safe-working. Establishes a participatory, collaborative organization dedicated to continual learning and improvement. Ensures employee institutional knowledge is retained and improved upon over time. Provides a focus on and emphasizes opportunities for professional and leadership development and strives to create an integrated and well-coordinated senior leadership team.
Financial Viability
Understands the full life-cycle cost of the utility and establishes and maintains an effective balance between long-term debt, asset values, operations and maintenance expenditures, and operating revenues. Establishes predictable rates—consistent with community expectations and acceptability—adequate to recover costs, provide for reserves, maintain support from bond rating agencies, and plan and invest for future needs.
Operational Resiliency
Ensures utility leadership and staff work together to anticipate and avoid problems. Proactively identifies, assesses, establishes tolerance levels for, and effectively manages a full range of business risks (including legal, regulatory, financial, environmental, safety, security, and natural disaster-related) in a proactive way consistent with industry trends and system reliability goals.
Water Resource Adequacy
Ensures water availability consistent with current and future customer needs through long-term resource supply and demand analysis, conservation, and public education. Explicitly considers its role in water availability and manages operations to provide for long-term aquifer and surface water sustainability and replenishment.
Customer Satisfaction
Provides reliable, responsive, and affordable services in line with explicit, customer-accepted service levels. Receives timely customer feedback to maintain responsiveness to customer needs and emergencies.
Operational Optimization
Ensures ongoing, timely, cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable performance improvements in all facets of its operations. Minimizes resource use, loss, and impacts from day-to-day operations. Maintains awareness of information and operational technology developments to anticipate and support timely adoption of improvements.
Infrastructure Stability
Understands the condition of and costs associated with critical infrastructure assets. Maintains and enhances the condition of all assets over the long-term at the lowest possible life-cycle cost and acceptable risk consistent with customer, community, and regulator-supported service levels, and consistent with anticipated growth and system reliability goals. Assures asset repair, rehabilitation, and replacement efforts are coordinated within the community to minimize disruptions and other negative consequences.
Community Sustainability
Is explicitly cognizant of and attentive to the impacts its decisions have on current and long-term future community and watershed health and welfare. Manages operations, infrastructure, and investments to protect, restore, and enhance the natural environment; efficiently uses water and energy resources; promotes economic vitality; and engenders overall community improvement. Explicitly considers a variety of pollution prevention, watershed, and source water protection approaches as part of an overall strategy to maintain and enhance ecological and community sustainability.
Stakeholder Understanding and Support
Engenders understanding and support from oversight bodies, community and watershed interests, and regulatory bodies for service levels, rate structures, operating budgets, capital improvement programs, and risk management decisions. Actively involves stakeholders in the decisions that will affect them.
Keys to Management Success
The Keys to Management Success are comprised of frequently used management approaches and systems that have been shown to help water and wastewater utilities manage more effectively. They provide a supportive climate for utilities working towards the outcomes outlined in the Attributes and they can help utilities integrate improvement efforts across the Attributes.
Click on one of the keys below to read more and access relevant resources: