Drinking Water Customers in Nation's Capital to Benefit from Consulting Evaluation of Wholesale Drinking Water Supplier

Four-month evaluation to provide recommendations for efficiencies at Washington Aqueduct

CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) has hired Veolia Water, the world's leading water and wastewater services and technology provider, to conduct a comprehensive and independent review of its wholesale water provider, the Washington Aqueduct. The Washington Aqueduct is a federally-owned and operated public water supply agency that delivers an average of 142 million gallons of drinking water per day to three customers; DC Water, Arlington County and Falls Church.

DC Water, in association with Washington Aqueduct, has retained Veolia Water to achieve excellence in the Aqueduct's water treatment operations. Veolia is conducting a comprehensive evaluation to provide recommendations that the Washington Aqueduct can implement to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, streamline operations and ensure continued reliable delivery of water services.

"The Washington Aqueduct provides a highly reliable supply of clean, safe drinking water to DC Water, which enables our utility to concentrate on delivering high levels of customer service to more than 600,000 people," said George Hawkins, general manager of DC Water. "As the largest wholesale water customer of Washington Aqueduct, our goal is to ensure that the Aqueduct is performing efficiently and providing DC Water with maximum value and helping ensure stable, affordable rates. This initiative is taken with the full backing of the Aqueduct." 

During a four-month evaluation period, consultants from Veolia Water will review all aspects of the Washington Aqueduct's operations, in pursuit of DC Water's goal of sustainable operations. Veolia will assess Washington Aqueduct's technical, operational and organizational capacity and capabilities, financial management and revenue, IT systems, human resources, procurement and contracting.

"Today's municipal water utilities are constantly challenged by rising operating and capital costs, making it harder for them to sustainably meet the growth needs of their communities," said Terry Mah, president and CEO of Veolia Environnement North America. "As the world's largest water and wastewater company, we are helping utilities like DC Water ensure the most efficient delivery of reliable, sustainable and affordable water services by sharing the water industry's best practices and the cumulative technical and operational knowledge of our 95,000 employees."

In performing its assessment, Veolia Water will use a consulting model similar to one it deployed in Pittsburgh and New York City.  Known as Peer Performance Solutions, this model blends a public workforce and embedded private-sector experts to deliver best practices that accelerate innovation and efficiency at public utilities.

In New York City, program implementation is expected to yield annual recurring financial benefits of more than $100 million by 2016. To date, more than $30 million in savings is in place at NYC's Department of Environmental Protection.

DC Water distributes drinking water and collects and treats wastewater for more than 600,000 residential, commercial and governmental customers in the District of Columbia. DC Water also provides wholesale wastewater treatment services for a population of 1.6 million in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia.

Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement, is the world leader in water and wastewater services. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE andNYSE: VE) is the worldwide reference in environmental solutions. With 220,000 employees*, the company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in three complementary segments: water management, waste management and energy management. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of $38.8 billion* in 2012. www.veolia.com

* Excluding VeoliaTransdev employees and revenues currently under divestment

SOURCE Veolia Environnement