Better Together: Partnering With Customers and Community – At Your Service
Delivering on SPU’s commitment to provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to 1.5 million people every day could not happen without the dedication and expertise of our staff. We’re fortunate and proud to have some of the best and brightest subject-matter experts in the utility industry, and it shows in the quality of the services that we provide.
Delivering on SPU’s commitment to provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to 1.5 million people every day could not happen without the dedication and expertise of our staff. We’re fortunate and proud to have some of the best and brightest subject-matter experts in the utility industry, and it shows in the quality of the services that we provide.
Along with staff, it also takes strong partnerships with the community and our customers to ensure we live up to the SPU mission “… to equitably manage water and waste resources for today and future generations.”
One of the essential partnerships that SPU has is with our wholesale water customers. SPU has more than 20 wholesale customers, which represent cities and water districts and provide Seattle Water to about 800,000 people outside of the City of Seattle limits.
Our wholesale customers are key partners for SPU, and together, we are responsible for delivering great drinking water, some of the best in the nation, to the Puget Sound region.
To maintain the level of excellence and service that our communities expect, it’s important that SPU continuously foster close relationships with our wholesale customers. Staff in the Water Line of Business, including Wholesale Water Contracts Manager Kelly O’Rourke, work closely and meet with the group once a month.
For the February business meeting, wholesale customers were invited to tour SPU’s’ Operations Control Center (OCC) and Water Quality Lab in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood.
Inside the OCC, the group saw a glimpse of the Control Center where skilled operators work 24/7 to move and control the flow of water around the region. After visiting the OCC, the group shuttled one block north on Airport Way South where Drinking Water Quality Division staff led them on a tour of the Water Quality Lab. The Lab is where SPU staff work seven days a week testing tens of thousands of water samples each year to ensure we meet all regulatory and safety requirements for drinking water.
Our wholesale customers represent one of many partnerships SPU holds locally, regionally, and nationally. These partnerships are extremely important as we cannot do what we do alone. They help us be more collaborative and responsive to community needs while working more effectively to achieve our mission:
