A Look Ahead to 2021

Date:
12-17-2020
Category:
Community

As we begin a new year, General Manager Michael Johnson shares his outlook for Birmingham Water Works and the priorities for the utility in 2021.

Provide Quality Drinking Water: “We want to continue to provide safe drinking water. We want to stay engaged with our employees because our employees are so important to delivering quality service,” said Johnson. “No matter what the circumstances are, that's what our customers expect, and we want to respond to their needs. We have over 200,000 accounts that we bill every month, and we serve about 650,000 customers in our five county service area. Being responsive to them is really important to us.”

Recovery from Impacts to COVID-19: “We want to determine sources of reimbursement for any COVID-related expenses, not only for our expenses but also to assist our customers who may have experienced an impact from COVID-19,” said Johnson. “And we will continue to assess the impact of COVID-19 because we think it'll be around for awhile.”

Planning for the Future: “We hope to complete our strategic plan. That's going to help us drive what we'll do for the next five years,” said Johnson. “Part of our strategic plan is an organizational assessment. As we implement the projects that are derived from the strategic plan we'll put the resources in place and our organizational assessment will help us be able to do that.”

Renewing our Infrastructure: “We want to complete our facility master plan, which is an important part of that because we have the aging structures we need to replace,” said Johnson. “We want to continue to replace our aging infrastructure; we've got pipes in the ground that are over 100 years old.”

Driving the Local Economy: “We want to continue to help drive our local economy and we're doing that by increasing our use of historically underutilized businesses,” said Johnson. “We all know when all businesses grow and participate, you have a better neighborhood. You have a better quality of life. The educational systems are enhanced. So, we want to do our part as we do our business to be able to drive our local economy.”