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4.02.04 Earthwork will begin shortly on Metropolitan Utilities District's $300 million Platte West Water Treatment Plant. General Manager Thomas A. Wurtz said the 630,511-square-foot facility, the size of three football fields, will include an underground reservoir on the east side. The plant at 216th and Q streets is scheduled to go online in 2008, adding 104 million gallons per day pumping capacity to the M.U.D. system and bringing the total pumping capacity to 338 million gallons per day. Wurtz said the facility will be a catalyst for economic growth for western Douglas, Sarpy and Saunders counties. "It will be an economic growth engine for the future of the region," Wurtz said. "Low or average cost water delivery is an important factor that businesses such as packing plants and bottling firms look at when making relocation decisions." Platte West will enable M.U.D. to create 21 new jobs. The public utility, headquartered at 1723 Harney in Omaha, has 811 employees and a $348 million annual budget, an increase of less than one percent over 2003. Wurtz, a 23-year M.U.D. employee, became general manager in late 2001. Infrastructure improvements, along with security issues prompted by 9/11, have required much of the time of the former public utilities lobbyist. Platte West, M.U.D.'s most ambitious project since it opened its Platte South treatment facility in 1968, should meet the needs of the area for 75 years. "With it we will have set up a triangle of reliability that also involves our Florence and Platte South facilities," Wurtz said. M.U.D. serves more than 180,500 water customers and about 194,500 gas customers. In addition to the construction of the Platte West project, several M.U.D. facilities are being upgraded. About $4.2 million is being invested in the Florence Water Treatment Plant. Another $2.6 million will be used this summer to improve well efficiency at Platte South. A new pumping station at 141st and State streets is a $3.1 million project to be completed in May 2005. It will improve water pressure in areas of northwest Douglas Count, which are being developed rapidly. Wurtz said M.U.D. spends $750,000 to $900,000 annually on security. In January it created an additional position, security specialist, and hired Joe Davitt, a retired Omaha police officer, to fill it. He works closely with Pete Neddo, formerly a safety officer for M.U.D., who was named director of safety and security two years ago. M.U.D. was tapped by the American Water Works Association to participate in an online security vulnerability assessment which the EPA has mandated for utilities nationwide. Wurtz said technological efficiencies have enabled M.U.D. to continually trim its employee ranks through attrition. Twenty-five years ago the utility had 3.15 employees per 1,000 customers; today the ratio is 2.12. Several warmer than average winters have cut into revenues from gas consumption; budgeted revenues were off by $2 million in unusually mild December. Temperatures in January and February were closer to normal. An initiative introduced two years ago, which has saved customers about $1 million a year, involved a $2.5 million upgrade of M.U.D.'s liquefied natural gas plant at 120th and Fort and propane storage at the 63rd and Oak operation center. "We're saving $7.5 million in transportation fees each year now, and that will increase to $8.5 million annually in two years," Wurtz said. Another thrust has been to reduce the accident rate. The utility, which is self-insured, operates about 400 trucks, most of which are on the streets daily. Last year M.U.D. had a 27.3 percent reduction in injuries to employees and a 23.2 percent decline in accidents involving vehicles. Wurtz, a native of north Omaha, said M.U.D.'s customer base has grown about 175 percent in the past 50 years, while the number of employees has decreased by 150. He said continuing to deliver gas at competitive rates in a deregulated environment is a challenge. As a UNL political science major in the early 1970s, he said, he became a big fan of Nebraska's publicly owned utilities. "What is offered to the community is 14 to 20 percent lower in price than what could be obtained through a private company," he said. However, he said, enabling legislation is needed to give M.U.D. another revenue source -- transporting another company's natural gas and the ability to market gas to commercial and industrial customers. Some companies that are large users could save $300,000 to $400,000 a year, Wurtz said. The practice is allowed in Iowa. After receiving a law degree, Wurtz worked for Lincoln Legal Aid. At the age of 27 he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court a case which expanded the rights of those in the Lincoln Regional Center. Wurtz, who recently married Lisa Glenn, is the father of three. |
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