WHO WE ARE

City Water, LLC is dedicated to the delivery of safe, reliable drinking water. Working in partnership with municipalities, City Water manages and operates water utility distribution systems. Our proven strategy in the water utility business improves the performance of a water system while our focus on customer service enhances day-to-day utility operation.

City Water has the benefit of more than 65 years of combined experience working in both the public and private sectors in the water utility industry. As water systems age, the focus will be to balance increasing rates with system replacement. Our experience with infrastructure management and operation services also provides a unique approach to developing system evaluations, plans for future service, operations audits, computer modeling, and reducing non-revenue water that keep a utility ahead of the curve.

COMPANY PROFILE

The diverse staff at City Water offers the extraordinary ability to efficiently and effectively manage and operate water utilities. This includes:

• Developing a utility’s philosophy - Understanding the big picture
• Utility management - Conceptual design and long-range planning
• Project design and construction - Understanding system hydraulics, system design, and construction best practices.
• System operation and maintenance– Understanding day-to-day operations to maintain a safe, reliable system with satisfied customers.

City Water staff includes:

• Registered professional engineers
• Certified water system operators
• Construction managers

City Water staff manages and operates the City of Mequon, and Villages of Brown Deer, and Fox Point Utilities. City Water also assists other municipal and private water systems in planning, design, construction, and operation. Our goal is to help provide our clients with innovative, cost-effective solutions that are easily maintained and reliable for future generations.

The City Water hands on experience provides the knowledge required to efficiently manage and operate a water utility. Our hands on experience includes customer service, water treatment, water quality, distribution systems, wells, water loss studies, leak detection, AMR and AMI, policy development, management, and utility finance. We are not only the engineering consultant who can develop plans or write reports, we also operate valves, hydrants and deal with customers on a daily basis giving us the capability to handle any water utility’s needs.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

Utility Management

City Water employs personnel with a broad range of Management experience, allowing us to effectively and efficiently manage our utilities.

Our proven business model for utility management is to spread the cost of experienced and seasoned staff across several utilities to make effective management affordable for every utility. A small to medium utility with a limited staffing budget can really benefit from this model. Instead of hiring a superintendent and a field operator - and then having to contract out all the engineering and financial analysis of the utility, City Water could staff the same utility and draw on internal staff for these areas of expertise when necessary, representing a significant cost saving to the utility. 

City Water has a strong belief in workforce development. We recruit and retain a workforce that is competent, motivated, adaptive, and safe. We have established a participatory, collaborative organization dedicated to continual learning and improvement. This ensures employee institutional knowledge is retained and improved upon over time. City Water encourages staff to take advantage of opportunities for professional and leadership development and strives to create an integrated and well-coordinated senior leadership team. 

Our management philosophy is based on changing the paradigm of increase rates to cover increased system operation costs. This can become a never-ending cycle. We believe in effective use of all municipality resources, and finding ways to improve efficiency in order to reduce cost and maintain flat rates for the rate payer. Some of the initiatives that we employ include:

• Develop partnerships with surrounding communities to share in the use and cost of specialized equipment
• Insure that asset repair, rehabilitation, and replacement efforts are coordinated within the community to minimize disruptions.
• Developing a comprehensive non-revenue water team to help identify and lower NRW within the utility
• Understanding the dynamic world of budgeting, water rate analysis, and capital planning

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

Utility Operations

City Water focuses on excellence in customer service, through optimization of utility operations

We believe that the essence of an excellent operations firm is measured by the level of customer service satisfaction in the communities they serve. To that end, we work diligently to:

• First and foremost – provide safe and reliable drinking water to our customers

• Minimize call response time for any customer service complaints

• Address all customer calls in a timely manner

• Communicate clearly to our customers through development of excellent customer communication materials that inform and educate our customers from routine maintenance (system flushing) to emergency system shutdown (water shut off notice)

• Perform preventive maintenance on utility infrastructure according to a predetermined schedule rather than in response to failure.

• Perform scheduled maintenance on equipment

• Develop and maintain unique flushing plans to improve water quality

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

City Water’s unique combination of experience delivers creative solutions that keep a Utility ahead of the curve

City Water staff provides the experience of operating a water utility on a daily basis combined with the knowledge of working as a consultant in the water industry. Having worked in a large investor owned utility to a rural public owned utility, we understand the challenges facing Utilities today from complex regulations, to reduced revenue and increased operational costs. Our approach of working in concert with utility staff helps develop tailor-made solutions that are easily incorporated into a utility's daily operation and provides a positive impact on customer service. 

Our professional services include:

• AMR/AMI evaluations
• Operations audits
• Non-revenue water reduction
• Construction management
• Master planning
• Infrastructure maintenance and replacement
• Rate case analysis
• Storage and distribution system design

Our goal is to provide our clients with innovative, cost effective solutions that are easily maintained and reliable for future generations.