WASHINGTON — DC Water, in association with the Washington Aqueduct, is employing the help of Veolia, the world’s leading environmental services and technology provider, to implement operational and process improvements at the Washington Aqueduct, a federally-owned and operated public water supply agency that delivers water to DC Water, Arlington County and Fairfax Water, according to a press release.
The Washington Aqueduct’s funding for operations, maintenance and capital improvements comes from revenue generated by the sale of drinking water to those three entities, the release noted.
In a four-month, joint public-private exercise, Veolia thoroughly reviewed the Washington Aqueduct’s operations and developed 25 key improvement ideas and opportunities for the Aqueduct to increase efficiency, reduce costs, streamline operations and ensure continued reliable delivery of water services, reported the release.
According to the release, the independent evaluation resulted in the identification of $8-12 million in potential annual savings in day-to-day operations and long-term capital planning and construction expenditures.
“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 the millions of people who visit, live or work here,” said George Hawkins, general manager of DC Water. “We have been leveraging innovation at DC Water to reduce costs and improve efficiency and wanted to explore whether the same could be achieved at our water supplier.”
