EL PASO, Texas – The City’s Environmental Services Department and El Paso Water are being honored with statewide awards by the Texas Chapter of the American Public Works Association (TPWA).
The City’s Environmental Services Department is being lauded with TPWA’s Management Innovation award. The award recognizes the department for its innovative waste exchange program, a public-private partnership agreement that allows it meet the community’s waste disposal demands.
Through the partnership with Waste Connections Inc., Environmental Services has strengthened its operational efficiencies and quality customer service through the conservation of fuel, overtime, and wear and tear on refuse trucks while becoming a better steward of the community.
“Environmental Services is always looking for ways to improve waste management. This award recognizing our innovative waste exchange program as a best practice demonstrates that the efforts of our department and employees is making difference in providing the community with outstanding services,” said Ellen Smyth, Environmental Services Director.
El Paso Water earned the TPWA Project of the Year for 2018 for its Resiliency Building & Water Storage project. El Paso Water invested $12 million to construct several elevated water storage tanks in 2017 to ensure continued water service in certain pressure zones that were vulnerable to water losses.
The new tanks provide an additional 13 million gallons of backup water supplies that can be routed around service disruptions, including water main breaks or large-scale emergencies.
“This project – along with our $30 million investment in additional backup power generators at many of our facilities – has improved our overall emergency preparedness and system resiliency so we can better serve our customers,” said Alan Shubert, El Paso Water Vice President for Operations & Technical Services. Shubert also serves on the TPWA Board.
Both Environmental Services and El Paso Water will be honored at an awards event on Thursday, June 28, as part of the association’s annual conference held June 27-29 in Fort Worth.