Andrew Kricun, P.E., Tom Pedersen
The Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) operates an 80-million-gallon-per-day (mgd) pure oxygen activated sludge sewage treatment plant located in Camden City, New Jersey. It also operates a 100-mile regional sewer collection system and 25 pumping stations, ranging from 1 mgd to 54 mgd in capacity. The CCMUA has identified three fundamental goals that are critical to the success of its operation:
In order to meet these goals, the CCMUA first undertook a privatization process for the purpose of soliciting private, external expertise in the wastewater treatment field. At the same time, the CCMUA also implemented an environmental management system (EMS) to optimize internal performance and to offer another, in-house, alternative to the privatization proposals submitted. Ultimately, the CCMUA found that implementation of an EMS resulted in improvement in water quality and air quality performance and in significant cost reductions. More importantly, the CCMUA found that the improvements realized through implementation of the EMS were collectively more attractive than the benefits offered through the privatization proposals. Accordingly, the CCMUA remained a public entity. This paper discusses the benefits of implementing an EMS and also discuss how implementation of internal improvements, through an EMS, can bring about results that are comparable or actually better than those realized through a privatization process.
Read the full paper: EMS as a Cost-Effective Alternative to Privatization (pdf)
Reprinted with permission from Proceedings of WEFTEC.05, the 78th Annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., Oct 29 - Nov 2, 2005. Copyright © 2005 Water Environment Federation: Alexandria, Virginia.