Macon Water Authority earns national award

Macon Water Authority (MWA) was honored last month with a national award for its function as a business and a member of Macon’s community. MWA received a Gold Award for exceptional utility performance from the Association of Metro Water Authorities (AMWA).
This annual national award shows MWA’s commitment to being a strong business, a strong member of the community and a provider of a strong service.
The AMWA recognized 14 water authorities at their last meeting and awarded only four with a gold standard. MWA was one of four national winners this year and one of four Georgia water authorities to ever win this award.
The other three gold award winners were Denver Water of Colorado, Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority of South Carolina, and Suffolk County Water Authority of New York.
The award was made known to MWA right before the death of its chairman, Frank Amerson, who passed away last month. Amerson was replaced by former Mercer University President, Dr. Kirby Godsey, as of last Thursday.
Godsey will serve as chairman until the election in 2013. Godsey has no plans to run for the position.
In order to win this award, water authorities are judged on 10 attributes and five Keys to Management Success.
The 10 attributes include: product quality, customer satisfaction, employee and leadership development, operational optimization, financial viability, infrastructure stability, operational resiliency, community sustainability, water resource adequacy, and stakeholder understanding and support.
MWA particularly shined in community involvement and has produced an impressive watershed protection plan that is well above state and national standards.
It has also shown involvement in providing support so that businesses will come to Macon. MWA appears to be a sustainable force in the Macon community.
“This award asks collectively: how is the organization running?” stated chief financial officer, Guy Boyle. MWA was recognized as a top performing business operator and for quality of water in several all-encompassing fields. The award shows that “the community it exists in is taken care of and the mission statement is being followed,” said Boyle.
Macon was commended for their customer care and for being a progressive organization that partners well with the community and businesses.
They are also proactive and show annual support for the Macon/Bibb Industrial Authority, donate land and show environmental stewardship to rivers.
The AMWA was founded in 2001. Its members provide drinking water for over 133 million individuals across the country.
Despite being an old city with older, fragile water lines, MWA was able to win an award of excellence on a national level. MWA serves as an integral part of Macon’s utility services, and Macon could not survive without such quality service.
MWA met or exceeded all of the requirements for the Gold Standard Award from the Association of Metropolitan Water Authorities.
MWA has put a lot of work into improvement and maintenance, including regularly locating and checking valves in case of emergency shut-off and replacing of broken or aging parts.