Member News
Artesian Resources Wins Technology Award
Artesian Resources has received the “Special Achievement in GIS” award from
ESRI, the largest research and development organization dedicated to geographic information systems (GIS). The award is for Artesian Resources’ development of an enterprise GIS that speeds the company’s response to customer inquiries, among a host of other efficiencies. Artesian Water is a leading provider of water, wastewater and engineering services in the Delmarva Peninsula.
“By investing in this technology, we have been able to reduce our response time for some customer inquiries from several hours to just a few minutes,” said Dian C. Taylor, chair, president & CEO of Artesian Resources.
A GIS integrates hardware, software and data from multiple resources to produce an extremely powerful tool for capturing, managing, analyzing and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. “This award is given to user sites around the world in recognition of their outstanding work in the GIS field,” noted ESRI president Jack Dangermond in a letter notifying Artesian of its selection. “Your organization was
selected to receive this award from over 100,000 user sites worldwide.”
Artesian employees access the GIS through a user-friendly intranet site where the company’s water infrastructure is displayed along with public information such as aerial photos, roads, topology, municipalities and land preservation. When a query is made, information formerly housed in separate databases is pulled together along with geographic data.
“Using the GIS, our employees can verify the ownership of a parcel, locate a valve or get an inventory count of hydrants,” said Jocelyn Beland, Artesian’s GIS coordinator, who led the two-year GIS conversion project. “Having this data available will not only improve our efficiency in the field, but will reduce the response time for ‘Miss Utility’ inquiries and other customer service requests.”
The Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award will be presented at the ESRI International User Conference in July.
United Water’s Dyksen Appointed to Water Research Board
John E. Dyksen, vice president of capital investment planning and engineering for United Water, was recently appointed to a three-year term on the Water Research Foundation (WRF) Board of Directors, located in Denver, Colo. Dyksen is one of three representatives of the National Association of Water Companies on the Foundation Board, formerly known as American Water Works Association Research Foundation.
Dyksen has more than 35 years experience in utility management, engineering, operations and environmental consulting. His professional experience includes all aspects of water system operations — supply, treatment and distribution for more than 120 water systems throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Dyksen is a professional engineer and a licensed water system operator.
Dyksen holds a Master of Science in environmental engineering and a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. In addition, Dyksen is both a licensed engineer and water supply operator in New Jersey, and a member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA).
He is past chair of the New Jersey section of AWWA, as well as a past member of the AWWA Board of Directors and the AWWA Water Quality Division. Dyksen has received a number of awards, including AWWA George Warren Fuller Award, AWWA Honorary Member Award, Best AWWA Journal Paper and NJAWWA Technology Transfer Award.
American Water Appoints Two New Independent Directors
American Water Works Company, Inc. announced that Julie A. Dobson and Stephen P. Adik have been appointed independent members of the company's Board of Directors, effective June 19.
"American Water is pleased to have Julie and Steve join our Board of Directors," said Don Correll, president and CEO of American Water. "Both have strong utility backgrounds and their experiences as well as this addition of two more independent members will further strengthen our board."
Dobson most recently served as chief operating officer for TeleCorp PCS, Inc. in Arlington, Va. TeleCorp provided wireless communications services in eight states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, operating under the brand SunCom until its sale to AT&T wireless in 2002. Prior to that, Dobson served in a variety of leadership positions for Bell Atlantic Corporation, including president of the New York Region of Bell Atlantic Mobile, vice president of Bell Atlantic Enterprises Corporation, and president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic Business Systems International.
Dobson also serves on the boards of PNM Resources, Inc. (Public Utility of New Mexico), Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. and LCC International, Inc. She earned an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Science from the College of William and Mary.
Adik most recently served as the vice chairman, executive vice president and chief financial officer of NiSource, Inc., an electric, natural gas and pipeline company operating in 16 states. He also held leadership positions for the American Natural Resources Company, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Amtrak, Chicago & North Western Railroad, and Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Adik serves on the boards of Northwestern Energy; Beacon Power Corporation; Dearborn Midwest Conveyor Company; Chicago, SouthShore and South Bend Railroad; and the Regional Bus Authority of Northwest Indiana. Adik earned an MBA from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.
American Water's Board of Directors now consists of 11 members.
Connecticut Water Proud to Participate in Extreme Makeover Home Edition Project
Connecticut Water Company is donating the materials and labor for the installation of a new, one-inch copper water service as part of ABC’s popular reality show Extreme Makeover Home Edition. On Sunday, June 21, a deserving area family was surprised by a “door knock” from the cast and crew, led by team leader Ty Pennington. The new home, complete with furnishings, was constructed in the course of one week beginning Sunday, June 21, and was “revealed” on Sunday, June 28.
“Our employees are thrilled to be part of this exciting project and are honored to be making a difference in the lives of the worthy family,” said Eric W. Thornburg, Connecticut Water’s president and CEO. “We are proud to have the opportunity to donate the materials and the expertise of our water industry professionals to this worthy cause.”
Connecticut Water is one of hundreds of companies, subcontractors and vendors who are donating time, labor and materials as part of the enormous project which will occur 24-hours a day over the course of one week. Those interested in following the progress of the build can visit www.extremepecoy.com, the official Web site of Pecoy Signature Homes, the builder for the project.
The episode featuring the project is scheduled to air on ABC in the fall, when the Emmy-winning Extreme Makeover Home Edition begins its seventh season.
New Jersey American Water and Rocky Hill Give Charities, First Responders a Boost
Everyone was in a charitable mood at the June 15 Rocky Hill Borough Council meeting as four worthwhile organizations accepted checks of $250 each. The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Rocky Hill First Aid & Rescue Squad, and the Rocky Hill Hook & Ladder Co. No. 1 equally split a $1,000 door prize awarded by New Jersey American Water to Rocky Hill Mayor Emeritus Brian Nolan.
During the New Jersey Conference of Mayors in Atlantic City last month, New Jersey American Water held a drawing for mayors to win one of three $1,000 gifts to be donated by the company to charities of the mayors’ choice. The former mayor Nolan, who served for 15 years, entered the drawing for Rocky Hill and won, choosing to spread his good fortune among organizations including St. Jude’s, in memory of his late brother William F. Nolan.
NAWC Customer Service Committee Visits California
On June 18, members of the NAWC Customer Service Committee visited California American Water in Pacific Grove, Calif.
The program, organized by Ben Lewis with American Water, started with an introduction by the general manager, Craig Anthony, to water service in the area. Topics covered included infrastructure, pricing, conservation efforts to manage the water supply, the high cost of water in the area, and improved rate structure to offer better control and customer service. The presentation continued with David Hughes, water distribution infrastructure lead with American Water, who offered an in-depth look at Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure(AMI) technologies as well as MLOG leak detection technology. The presentations were followed by a field trip to a local neighborhood to see MLOG technology in practice.
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The Customer Service Committee will be planning site visits in the future. If you are interested in attending these upcoming events or becoming a member of the Customer Service Committee, please contact Carlos Villanueva at 202-349-7300 or via e-mail at carlos@nawc.com.
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