The American Water Works Association has launched its benchmarking program to assist water and wastewater utilities that are looking to improve their performance. The program, which will collect and release utility performance data, was developed to help utilities track their own data and compare it to established standards among water industry peers.

AWWA’s benchmarking program will focus on two areas – an annual survey to collect performance data and publication of that data for utilities to utilize.

This year’s survey is now open and has been organized by performance indicators in five areas — organizational development, customer relations, business operations, water operations and wastewater operations. The data collection period for the survey will end on April 1.

Utilities interested in participating should visit the new online survey portal on AWWA’s benchmarking webpage. Participants will receive a report with their confidential results relative to the collected results of similar utilities and a 30 percent discount on the final publication.

Utility performance data that was collected from previous survey results is currently available in the 2017 AWWA Utility Benchmarking: Performance Management for Water and Wastewater. It is available in the AWWA Store.

Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the world’s most important resource. With approximately 50,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.