Filtered by category: Utility Management Clear Filter

Learning Hour Panel: Staffing Challenges and Solutions for Clean Water Agencies

Hosted by the PNCWA Utility Management Committee

Date & Time:  July 26, 2023 @ Noon to 1 PM

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The Utility Management Committee is Hitting Refresh!

The Utility Management Committee is relaunching and looking for folks who want to share knowledge and network to learn how your peers at other utilities do what we do.  We envision a collaborative space with monthly lunchtime meetings to discuss topics of interest and plan quarterly events or presentations from speakers about topics that interest our committee.   

What does “Utility Management” mean to you?  If you have interests, ideas, curiosities about how best the Utility Management Committee can help spread knowledge or just want to stay up to date on the Committee’s activities please contact Jessica Rinner at [email protected] or Yarrow Murphy at [email protected].

Committee Spotlight: Utility Management

Check out this article on Asset Management submitted by the PNCWA Utility Management Committee.

Asset management is the practice of managing infrastructure capital assets to minimize the total cost of owning and operating those assets while delivering the service level customers desire. Asset management can be a valuable process to gain knowledge about the condition of system components when they need to be repaired and replaced, and costs over time. This can be useful for decision-making, budgeting, capital improvements planning, and funding for projects to sustain utilities. 

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CMMS Survey—Is Your Utility Using CMMS?

If you are responsible for the management of maintenance in your utility, please take this survey

The Utility Management Committee is seeking to understand how Computer Maintenance Managements Systems (CMMS) are utilized by Pacific Northwest utilities. Is your utility using a CMMS system or not? What are the barriers, challenges, and successes? If you are responsible for the management of maintenance in your utility, please take this survey. We want to hear from you!

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Webinar - Resilience: Strong Utilities, Strong Communities, Nov. 14, 2018, 11:30 AM Pacific

Resilience Webinar Presented by PNCWA Utility Management Committee:
 
.1 CEUs requested
November 14, 2018
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Pacific

The webinar is no cost for PNCWA members, PNCWA section members, and WEF-UPP organization employees, and $50 for nonmembers.

Flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes and scores of other hazards can wreak system-wide and regional havoc on lifeline utilities that serve critical health, safety, and environmental roles in our everyday life. Recognizing the role that functioning infrastructure plays in the near- and long-term recovery of communities following a devastating event, utilities across the country are taking a serious look at their resiliency. This webinar delves into the efforts many utilities are making to understand their risks by identifying vulnerabilities, modeling natural hazard scenarios, and defining the critical elements of their systems. The presentations will include project examples from the Pacific Northwest, with insights on building organizational awareness about the need for resiliency in the face of ever increasing demands on limited funds, getting efforts off the ground, and how mitigation recommendations are being implemented.

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PNCWA Utility Management Committee Leadership Change

Eric Habermeyer taking the reins at the PNCWA Utility Management Committee

Eric is a civil engineer with Seattle Public Utilities wastewater system operations group. He has 10 years of experience with the planning, design, and operation of wastewater conveyance facilities. Alex Mockos,  also with Seattle Public Utilities, will continue to assist as the vice chair and will play a lead role in some activities. The Utility Management Committee is moving forward with key issues of interests in finance, asset management, knowledge retention, and more. David Gordon, current Committee Chair has taken a position with Blue Cypress Consulting, and is relocating to the eastern U.S. 

Talking Utility Management with PNCWA's Newest Committee

PNCWA is excited to announce our newest committee—the Utility Management Committee. While some think that utility management is similar to asset management, its range is much broader and encompasses finances, staffing, leadership, resiliency, data, customer service, communications, IT, sustainability, strategic planning, and more. The committee is dedicated to promoting and enhancing the use of best practices in utility management to efficiently protect human health and the environment. Per their official charter, they work to disseminate best practices in utility management internally to members and externally to stakeholders with an emphasis on fostering PNCWA’s vision of clean, sustainable watersheds for future generations. 

David Gordon, the chair of the UMC, is passionate about utility management. Gordon, who works at FCS Group in Seattle, spent some time talking to us about the new committee, why utility management is so important, their first workshop in October, and how PNCWA members can get involved. 

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