scope:

Overview and Purpose

This operational guide is one of the first in a series designed to accompany each of a corresponding series of AWWA utility management standards. Specifically, this guide is intended to be paired with ANSI/AWWA G400, Utility Management System (AWWA 2009a), which has been created to provide a framework for the entire series of utility management standards.

The original idea for the operational guide series came from utility managers who participated in a two-year pilot project conducted/supported by the AWWA Utility Quality Programs Committee, the AWWA Accreditation Committee, and nearly 30 utility professionals from more than 10 North American utilities. The pilot project assessed the applicability and practicality of the series of AWWA utility management standards by working with two utilities-Birmingham (Ala.) Water Works and Sewer Board (BWWSB) and Washington County (Va.) Service Authority (WCSA)-and a team of volunteers from utilities, consulting firms, and other organizations.

In the pilot program, WCSA and BWWSB staff worked with fellow utility professionals and staff from AWWA to evaluate the feasibility of using the published ANSI/AWWA G200, Distribution Systems Operation and Management (AWWA 2004), and ANSI/AWWA G100, Water Treatment Plant Operation and Management (AWWA 2005a), as well as a working draft of the document that would eventually become ANSI/AWWA G300, Source Water Protection (AWWA 2007). The pilot project had three goals, essentially to answer the following questions:

• Are the documents (final and draft standards) written in a clear and understandable fashion; that is, are they useful as documents?

• Are the requirements fair and reasonable for a utility as small as WCSA (staff of 50, serving 50,000 people), as large as Birmingham (staff of several hundred, serving more than 700,000 people), and for other utilities?

• Do the participating utilities see any value in the process of adopting and using these standards, and if appropriate, any additional value in being recognized for doing so?

The pilot process revealed that not only were the new management standards clear, understandable, and usable, but they were on target in identifying the right things to be doing-in source protection, at the treatment plant, and in the distribution system-to properly protect public health, public safety, and the environment, and to properly and responsibly run the utility.

In addition, the pilot participants explained some of the key benefits they thought would come from using the standards and from any recognition that might come with their use.

• First, they thought that implementing the standards would have a direct and positive impact on their everyday operations. Even the process of simply identifying the gap between what the standards call for and what they had in place gave them the information they needed to make many operational improvements, which, when implemented, would make them both more effective and more efficient in many areas.

• Second, they thought that being able to say that they had successfully adopted and implemented the standards would give them more credibility as an organization, and further, give them the confidence to handle the tough questions that come from the media, the utility's governance, or customers.

• Third, they felt that being recognized (especially if it was by an organization of AWWA's stature) for using these standards would enhance their public image as responsible stewards of the natural, fiscal, and human resources entrusted to their care, and this image would serve as a source to attract businesses and people to their communities.

• Fourth, and perhaps most unexpected, they felt that implementing these standards would be a great way to capture the immense quantity of institutional knowledge possessed by their utility employees.

During the pilot process, the utility managers requested that AWWA develop some type of guidance or how-to documents to go along with the standards. These guidance documents would serve two purposes: (1) to help utility managers understand the purpose and function of these new standards, and (2) to help them implement and incorporate the standards into everyday operations. From this suggestion resulted the series of guides (AWWA 2006).