American Water
Buffalo, New York
In September 1997, the Buffalo Water
Board entered into a contract with
American Water to upgrade, operate,
and maintain its water system. Services
provided by American Water to the City
of Buffalo include repair and maintenance
of the distribution system; water treatment
and pump station operation; residuals
management; customer service; billing and
collections; and the repair and installation
of water meters. The original contract had
a five-year term, which has since been renewed for
another five years.
After six years of working with American Water, the
City of Buffalo has recognized $21 million in savings
through operational and financial improvements.
The partnership has made significant improvements
to the city’s water system, including the complete
automation of customer records, the design and
construction of a brand new customer service
center, the procurement of new vehicles and repair
contracts and a new computerized maintenance and
management system.
One important contract requirement was that the
labor force needed to remain employees of the
City of Buffalo to preserve pensions and benefits.
A six-party agreement was signed with four
unions, the City of Buffalo, and American Water,
enabling American Water to manage the unionized
employees. This cooperative partnership yielded
many positive results including no involuntary
staff reductions in the water division. Other
improvements included work rule changes to
improve flexibility and responsiveness, as well as
a 26% increase in productivity as measured by the
number of water customers per employee.
New technologies have been implemented to
improve efficiencies in operations and processes,
reduce costs and reduce or eliminated redundancies
in systems, staff, and support. One such example
is the implementation of an automated process
for all records including customer account and
billing information for approximately 90,000.
Centralized internet-based systems are now in
operation for e-mail, office applications, operations
and maintenance, water quality analysis, customer
service, and billings.
Prior to the partnership, for every $100.00 that was
billed, only $80.00 was collected. It was agreed that
a
94% collection rate be achieved. The current
collection rate is 97%, resulting in significant
annualized
revenue increase.
Under the partnership quality and reliability of
service has also improved. Water turbidity has been
reduced by 450% and the Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition (SCADA) system now provides
more detailed information and video security
leading to better system management.
The partnership between American Water and
the City of Buffalo has resulted in substantial cost
reductions, measurable performance improvements,
and superior service to citizens. |
