AWWA Announces Annual Utility Benchmarking Survey

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has announced the opening of its annual benchmarking survey.

The AWWA Utility Benchmarking Program was developed to help water and wastewater utilities track their own data and compare it to established standards among their water industry peers. The program focuses on two areas:

S Annual survey to collect performance data

S Publication of that data for utilities to utilize

Benchmarking through the AWWA program allows utilities to:

S Understand their performance relative to the industry

S Identify areas for improvement or investment

S Track performance against strategic goals

S Establish realistic goals and create action plans

S Facilitate customer and stakeholder conversations

Hundreds of utilities have participated in the AWWA Utility Benchmarking Survey over the decade and have found benefit from yearly participation.

Performance Indicators

AWWA’s benchmarking program continuously tracks utility performance indicators developed and applied by water industry professionals to provide a framework for improving both operational efficiency and managerial effectiveness for all utilities. The basis of this program is a system of welldefined and time-tested indicators specific to the water sector. These indicators were designed to help utilities providing water and/ or wastewater services improve their efficiency and effectiveness and are reviewed annually to ensure relevancy and clarity.

This year’s survey is organized by performance indicators in five areas:

S Organizational development

S Customer relations

S Business operations

S Water operations

S Wastewater operations

Utility performance data collected from previous survey results are currently available in the AWWA publication, “Utility Benchmarking: Performance Management for Water and Wastewater.” It’s available to order online in the AWWA Store at www.awwa.org.

Utilities interested in participating in the survey should visit the online survey portal on the benchmarking page at AWWA’s website, noted previously. Survey participants will receive a report with their confidential results relative to the collected results of similar utilities, as well as a 30 percent discount on the publication.

Are You New to the AWWA Utility Benchmarking Program?

If you wish to participate in the current survey, you will need two items:

Individual AWWA Log-In Credentials

S Individuals working on the benchmarking program will be linked to the benchmarking portal using their individual www.awwa.org log-in credentials.

S To verify if you have an individual login, go to www.awwa.org, click on My Account in upper-right hand corner, and follow links to either reset password or to reset username. Only after checking, if you do not have a login, please create a new individual account (membership is not required).

Access to Benchmarking Portal

S New Utility Participants:

• Please designate who will be the benchmarking Point of Contact (POC): this required position will be the recipient of all benchmarking correspondence, responsible for assigning contributor access, manage data collection, and submit the final report. The POC will have the ability to print individual participant reports. Only one POC can be designated per utility.

• To request new utility access, send utility name and POC to AWWA Benchmarking. Benchmarking staff will ensure that utility access is completed and a confirmation email will be sent to the POC as soon as possible.

S Existing Utility Participants:

• The POC is responsible for adding any utility contributors.

S Contributors (optional):

• Contributors collect and enter data and review specific sections for completion. Multiple contributors from each utility can be assigned.

• All contributors must also have an individual AWWA login (membership is not required). Please verify at www.awwa. org your individual log-in credentials.

• Contributor’s access will not be complete until the POC has assigned survey sections and started the current survey

The data collection period for the survey will end on April 5, 2023. S