Member News

Aqua America Acquires Three Systems
Aqua America announced that its subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc., has acquired the water system assets of the Country Club Gardens Water Company. The $100,000 acquisition represents the company’s first entry into Pennsylvania’s fast-growing Lehigh County.

The transaction includes three systems that supply water to approximately 1000 residents in Lower Macungie, South Whitehall and Salisbury townships near Allentown. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved the acquisition. The company plans to invest nearly $230,000 over the next few years for capital improvements to the three water systems, including structural and electrical upgrades to the water treatments facilities and the installation of state-of-the-art radio frequency water meter technology for all customers.

Strauss Announced as President of AWE Group
American Water announced the appointment of Mark Strauss as president of American Water Enterprises Group (AWE). AWE was formed in January 2005, to bring together American Water’s non-regulated business units, offering closely aligned services that supplement its core water and wastewater and operations and maintenance contract businesses. These include services such as community onsite water systems, service line protection programs, water and wastewater management for military bases, and other innovative solutions that address a variety of challenges facing the industry.

Strauss joined American Water in 1997 as corporate counsel and secretary for the Applied Water Management Group (AWM). He was promoted to chief operating officer in 2002 and he was appointed president and CEO of the group in 2003. Replacing Strauss is Tim Davis, who has served as the group’s chief operating officer and vice president of operations of AWM for the last five years. Strauss replaces Graham Wood, who recently completed a two-year assignment with American Water.

American Water’s Correll, Howard Urge Public-Private Partnerships
American Water urged municipal officials to consider partnerships with private companies as a way to manage the enormous task of providing reliable water supplies to cities with aging infrastructure and growing populations. The company made its presentation at the 2006 National League of Cities (NLC) conference in Reno, Nev.

“Partnerships between municipalities and the private sector will be an increasingly important strategy for dealing with the enormous challenges of replacing and upgrading the nation’s water delivery systems, and finding new solutions to the critical issues of providing water to meet environmental concerns and the needs of growing populations and industries,” according to Donald Correll, president and CEO of American Water.

In an address to municipal leaders at the NLC conference, American Water Senior Vice President of Sales and Development Walter Howard said, “Water is in demand and there is dire need for supply management.” Howard’s remarks were illustrated by a demonstration of American Water’s full range of services to municipalities, including Design-Build-Operate (DBO) systems it creates for cities, Reclaimed Water for Beneficial Reuse (RWBR) projects, and unique Service Line Protection Programs (SLPP).

“As industry leaders, we know that the solution to today’s water challenges lies in the concept of total water management (TWM),” Howard said. “All of our services take into account social, environmental, and economic needs so that water resources can be managed in a balanced, sustainable way.”

He noted that the need for public-private partnerships will be particularly critical in arid western regions that are growing more rapidly than the rest of the country, even while water supplies diminish. For example, the population of Las Vegas has increased over 83 percent since 1960, jumping water use exponentially from an estimated 1.4 million gallons per day to over 154 million gallons per day, based on an average consumption of 400 gallons per day per family of four.

Howard outlined a wide variety of solutions implemented through public-private partnerships, including:

• The City of Buffalo, N.Y.: The Buffalo Water Board entered into a contract with American Water to upgrade, operate, and maintain its water system. The original contract, which had a five-year term, has been renewed. The city of Buffalo has recognized $21 million in savings through operational and financial improvements. The partnership has made significant upgrades, such as the complete automation of customer records, the design and construction of a new customer service center, the procurement of new vehicles and repair contracts, and a new computerized maintenance and management system.
  
  
• Lake Pleasant Water Treatment Plant (Phoenix, Ariz.): American Water signed a contract for $36 million with the city of Phoenix to design and construct an advanced water treatment facility that will serve 400,000 households. Once completed in early 2007 American Water will operate and maintain the facility for 15 years, with an option to renew. The plant’s initial 80-million-gallons-per-day capacity will ultimately be expanded to 320 million gallons per day. This is currently the largest DBO project of its kind in North America.
  
  
• Tolt Treament Facility (Seattle, Wash.): American Water was selected to permit, build, and operate the 120-million-gallons-per-day water facility. Today, the plant’s water treatment capacity generates 30 percent of the city of Seattle’s annual drinking water supply. Also included is a 15-year commitment to operate and maintain the facility with an opportunity for renewal every five years through 2022. In total, the DBO concept saved the city of Seattle and its wholesale customers an estimated $70 million.
  
  
• Gillette Stadium (Foxboro, Mass.): American Water was recruited to design, build, and operate a first-of-its-kind wastewater plant in the home of the NFL’s New England Patriots to treat and recycle the 50,000 gallons of wastewater produced on peak capacity game days. The resulting plant treats anywhere from 250,000 to 1.1 million gallons of water per day. As part of the plant, reclaimed water is used for toilet flushing throughout the stadium, saving approximately 250,000 gallons of potable water at each major event.

“Each of these projects demonstrates the value of business and government working collaboratively through public-private partnerships to solve vexing issues with innovative solutions that municipalities might not have been able to implement unilaterally,” said Correll.

Pennichuck Awarded Contract
Pennichuck Water Service Company (PWSC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Pennichuck Corporation, was recently awarded a contract to provide operations and maintenance services for the public water system in Salisbury, Mass. PWSC has operated the Salisbury system since 2001. The new contract extends PWSC's operations through June of 2007.

Salisbury is a community of 8,000 located in northeastern Massachusetts. The town-owned water system provides drinking water and fire protection service to most of the town's population. Salisbury Director of Public Works, Donald Levesque, said, "We have had excellent results with Pennichuck as our operator. The company has been very reliable and responds well to the needs of the town."

In addition to the Salisbury contract, PWSC provides services under several other municipal contracts and private community water system contracts, and provides service to residential customers under its Watertight water line service program.