Sewerage Commission Recognized As ‘Utility Of The Future Today’

NEWARK, NJ — The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) was recently recognized by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) as a 2022 “Utility of the Future Today.” The Newark-based agency earned the recognition alongside 34 other utilities worldwide this year.

According to the WEF website:

“Public and private water sector utilities of all sizes that can demonstrate achievement of the application requirements are encouraged to apply. Applicants must have had no major violations of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements for the previous year from the date of application.”

Utility of the Future Today is a partnership program comprised of the WEF, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the Water Research Foundation, the WateReuse Association, and the United States Water Alliance, with input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The PVSC released a statement trumpeting the designation:

“The ‘Utility of the Future Today’ concept is more important now than ever before as water systems face challenges such as aging infrastructure, water pollution, workforce shortages and weather events such as floods, storms, sea level rise and droughts. The goal of the program is to guide utilities of all sizes toward smarter, more efficient operations and resource recovery. PVSC was specifically recognized for its ongoing implementation of its sophisticated Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping Platform. A major obstacle PVSC faces every day is maintaining its extensive wastewater system, much of which is located underground, out of view and sometimes in difficult to access spaces. The GIS map offers PVSC’s line operators access to an aerial, digital representation of PVSC’s robust framework of assets, so that maintenance needs and unexpected repairs can be identified and then addressed with speed, agility and precision. These assets consist of PVSC’s linear assets (including its main interceptor, branch lines, local sewer connections, manholes, chambers, river crossings, and underground infrastructure), vertical assets (including buildings, pipes, valves, pumps, and meters), and terminal assets (including PVSC’s outfall tunnel and peripherally related assets). The maps give the user a perspective on how pipes, equipment and processes in various, seemingly unrelated areas are linked to each other.”

“The GIS Mapping Platform is essential to assisting PVSC in continuing to provide critical wastewater treatment to the communities we serve,” Chairman Thomas Tucci Jr. said.

Tucci continued:

“It enables our line operators to visualize our difficult to access assets. That makes it possible for them to pinpoint when, where and how they will perform any connection repair, demolition, or reactivation, as well as any new construction that needs to be performed. I’m very pleased that our efforts on these two projects are being recognized by prestigious organizations such as the WEF and NACWA.”

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