CVWD Receives National Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance

From Coachella Valley Water District:

The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) awarded Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) with its prestigious Gold Award for Exceptional Utility Performance.

CVWD is one of only five agencies nationwide that met the stringent requirements necessary to receive the AMWA award for 2016. Assistant General Manager Robert Cheng accepted the award on behalf of CVWD at AMWA’s 2016 Executive Management Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“AMWA awards spotlight the impressive advances and substantial achievements of public drinking water utilities that are leading the nation in their efforts toward sustainability through innovative management practices, executive leadership and employee engagement,” said AMWA President Scott Potter, Director of Nashville Metro Water Services. “Communities count on their drinking water systems for reliable and adequate supplies of clean, safe water, and those served by AMWA’s 2016 award winners can take pride in their outstanding accomplishments.”

AMWA issues the awards to water agencies providing domestic water/ sanitation services to their customers that have demonstrated they are using what are known as the Attributes of Effective Utility Management. Those attributes are: product quality, customer satisfaction, employee and leadership development, operational optimization, financial viability, infrastructure stability, operational resiliency, community sustainability, water resource adequacy and stakeholder understanding and support.

The past three years, CVWD has used a Strategic Planning process to improve operations and processes related to these attributes. Strategic Planning objectives have ranged from recruiting and retaining quality employees, enacting more aggressive water conservation programs, completing a comprehensive asset management audit and improving customer service.

The Coachella Valley Water District is a public agency governed by a five-member board of directors. The district provides domestic and irrigation water, agricultural drainage, wastewater treatment and reclamation services, regional storm water protection, groundwater management and water conservation. It serves approximately 109,000 residential and business customers across 1,000 square miles, located primarily in Riverside County, but also in portions of Imperial and San Diego counties.

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