Volume 11, Number 3     May/June 2008 FEATURES Bid-to-Goal Approach Keeps a Utility Competitive Ilke E. McAliley, Kevin Mosteller, Matt Ryan, Chip Vanderzee, Chris Thompson, and Terry Houk The city of High Point in the Piedmont region of North Carolina plays an important role in the state’s economy. During the last 30 years, the city has become a center for major furniture brands, and its population has grown from 50,000 to 130,000. This growth made the city attractive to private companies seeking to profit from its expanding utility needs. Private operators approached the city several times about managing the operation of its water and wastewater facilities. High Point was at a crossroads: It had to either privatize its utility operations or take matters into its own hands and streamline operations to make the utility more competitive.

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Breaking Ground With Design–Build–Operate Contractual Issues
Susan K. Landon, Steven White, and Mark Hildebrand

When a utility decides to enter into a design–build–operate (DBO) public–private partnership for a new wastewater treatment system, it has to be willing to take some risks.

Just ask the city of Clovis, Calif.

Located in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley in Central California, Clovis faces all-too-familiar problems — meeting the wastewater treatment needs of a growing population and protecting the area’s diminishing groundwater levels.

Cross-Training Helps Mine Automation Savings
Salil Kharkar, Walter Bailey, and Aklile Tesfaye

A new approach has allowed the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Washington, D.C.), to move toward meeting its internal improvement goals. The plant set out to leverage the benefits it derived from automation to help it cross-train all its operators in different process areas of the plant. So far, the approach has been a success.

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) operates the Blue Plains treatment plant, a 1.4-million-m3/d (370-mgd) average daily flow facility that has stringent phosphorus and nitrogen discharge limits.

To ensure continuing permit compliance, WASA developed an estimated $1.2 billion capital program. The authority also authorized a privatization feasibility study that indicated that, if run efficiently, the authority could operate the Blue Plains plant at a cost competitive with a private entity. The study was completed in 1999.

NEWS

Jumping on the Carbon Offset Bandwagon

Obtaining absolution from your environmental sins, it seems, is getting easier all the time. Shoppers in Norway, for instance, can now purchase a ton of greenhouse gas reductions along with their weekly groceries at one Oslo shopping center. Travelers who fly to Africa on Atlas Blue Airlines (Marrakech, Morocco) can ease their guilt and offset the carbon emitted during their flight by contributing toward carbon-neutralizing projects around the world.

U.S. residents need go no farther than their computers to measure their own personal carbon footprints — the amount of greenhouse gases they are responsible for emitting into the environment. At carboncounter.org, one of several Web sites designed for this purpose, I learned that I personally am responsible for an estimated 29 Mg (32 ton) of carbon dioxide that will be emitted into the atmosphere this year. The good news is that I can offset my contribution to global warming with a recommended donation of $358.32 to be used for emission-reduction efforts. Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

Reserving the Future
Utilities must consider many factors when determining proper reserve levels

In theory, earmarking revenue for reserve funds is a smart business move. By establishing reserve funds, utilities can prepare for unforeseen expenses and exhibit the utility’s financial health. These attributes demonstrate that a utility is attuned to current difficulties while still planning for future problems.

In practice, balancing current financial demands with future needs is more difficult. As current problems — such as deteriorating infrastructure and rising costs — continue to surface, utilities have to work actively and intelligently to meet current demands while still preparing for future problems.


BRIEFS
Quick updates on news of interest to the utility management professional.