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Water utilities face an ever-growing challenge of meeting customer needs forservice in the face of keeping a lid on escalating costs. These challenges areexacerbated by the increasing complications of new regulations and newlydiscovered needs for maintaining security of the community's water supply.This paper discusses how cooperation is an effective way to meet these challenges, even when previousrelationships have been strained. Embarking on cooperative ventures can yieldbenefits beyond the intended, enhancing the organizational cultures to include aview of the utility's role outside its corporate boundaries. The paper presents a case study of two water providers serving one city, which might seem like a natural match. Rockwood Water People's Utility District (Rockwood PUD) and the city ofGresham Water Division both provide water to portions of the Portland (Oregon)Metropolitan area. Rockwood serves territory within and outside Gresham'scorporate boundaries. Gresham serves approximately 60 percent of the City's94,000 residents, with the other half being served by Rockwood. However, the history of therelationship between the two governmental units has not been amicable. Thevery formation of the PUD was controversial, putting the City and the PUD atodds from the beginning. The paper demonstrates how increasing water supply costs and changes in theindubitable nature of municipal water rights created an opening for a productiveworking relationship for the two.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 02/01/2005 Number of Pages: 7File Size: 1 file , 61 KB