IMPLEMENTING EMS TO IMPROVE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT FOR DALLAS WATER UTILITIES

摘要

Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) operates one of the largest water and wastewater utility systems inthe United States, serving over 2.4 million customers in the metropolitan Dallas, Texas region.DWU employs approximately 1,400 employees in 26 divisions and utilizes a $500M annualoperating budget and $300M annual capital program. Water Operations include three watertreatment plants with nearly 900 million gallons per day (mgd) of water treatment capacity,surface water from six reservoirs, 22 pumping stations, 21 water storage tanks (nine elevated, 12ground) and 5,166 miles of transmission and distribution pipelines. Wastewater Operationsinclude two wastewater treatment plants with 260 mgd of treatment capacity, 4,364 miles ofsewers, and 15 wastewater pump stations in the collection system. Annual average treatedeffluent of 145 mgd is discharged into the Trinity River.DWU implemented water conservation initiatives in the 1980’s to reduce per capita water usage.In October 2001, DWU adopted an irrigation ordinance which contributed to the reduction of percapita water usage by 21% over a nine year period while also reducing power usage andgreenhouse gas emissions. The desire for continual improvement led the City to develop newstrategic initiatives to reduce water usage, power usage, and improve efficiencies as follows:1. 50-year water supply plan including water conservation, new supply source development,reuse, and a water conservation goal of 1.5% reduction in per capita water consumption;2. 20-year strategic master plan for wastewater treatment facilities with capital improvementplanning to maintain regulatory compliance, increase reuse, replace aging infrastructure,increase efficiency, reduce power usage, or satisfy growth; and3. Setting of an energy conservation goal to reduce power usage of 15% across DWUwastewater treatment plants by year 2013 based on fiscal year 2008 energy usage.These initiatives included standardizing the utility through the International Organization forStandardization (ISO) 9001 for management quality, ISO 14001 for environmental managementsystems (EMS), and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems(OHSMS). Implementation of an ISO 9001quality management system (QMS) established a“top-down” leadership and management quality standard. The ISO 14001 EMS and OHSAS18001 OHSMS involved the development of detailed operational procedures and workinstructions for each of the DWU operating divisions. The procedures and work instructionswere finalized through a series of operational audits, interviews with staff and writing teams as“tests” to assess the effectiveness and accuracy of the documented activities. Collectively, thethree management systems are now referred to as the DWU Utility Management System.The benefits of the Utility Management System are significant. Goals and objectives forimprovement can be managed, monitored and measured by staff empowered at all levels in theorganization. This paper will summarize the processes used by the City to implement the ISOand OHSAS management systems through the new Utility Management System and theassociated operational and energy management benefits.