BENCHMARKING IDENTIFIES BEST PRACTICES IN SEVEN LARGE WEST COAST SANITATION AGENCIES FIND OUT HOW

摘要

In 1993, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) initiated its firstbenchmarking study to determine how its wastewater treatment facility operations andmaintenance costs compared to five other similar wastewater treatment agencies. Thisbenchmarking study was based on a survey sent to each of the five other agencies.Once the results were analyzed, this survey-based study proved to be flawed. EBMUDteamed with Orange County Sanitation Districts and Sacramento Regional CountySanitation Districts and developed a template-based approach to comparing costs. Ina follow-up Multi-Agency Benchmarking Study, more wastewater agencies were addedto the benchmarking group and the benchmarking methods used continued to evolve.The Multi-Agency Benchmarking Study focused not only on Operations andMaintenance, but also investigated Laboratory, Source Control, Administration, andCapital Engineering. The goal of the study was to identify best practices in each ofthese areas.