Water and Wastewater Contract Operations in Missouri | A Guide for Municipal Leaders
Operating a municipal water or wastewater system in Missouri requires people, equipment, technical knowledge and consistent management.
For many communities, particularly smaller cities and towns, maintaining all of those resources internally can become increasingly challenging.
A longtime certified operator may be approaching retirement. A vacant position may attract few qualified applicants. Preventive maintenance may be competing with emergency repairs for limited staff time. Regulatory responsibilities continue regardless of whether the utility is fully staffed.
These challenges can leave city administrators, public works directors, mayors and municipal boards asking an important question:
Does our community have to manage every part of its water and wastewater operations internally?
The answer is no.
Contract water and wastewater operations provide Missouri municipalities with another option.
Alliance Water Resources works with communities to provide professional water treatment, wastewater treatment, distribution, collection and related utility services based on the needs of individual systems.
For Missouri municipal leaders evaluating their current operations, understanding how contract operations work is the first step toward determining whether this model could benefit their community.
What Are Contract Water and Wastewater Operations?
Contract operations allow a municipality to partner with an outside professional operations provider for defined water or wastewater responsibilities.
The scope can vary significantly.
One Missouri community may need a certified operator for its drinking water treatment system. Another may need wastewater treatment operations. A third may require broader support involving treatment, distribution, collection systems, maintenance or other utility responsibilities.
Contract operations do not inherently mean selling the water system or transferring ownership of municipal infrastructure.
Instead, the municipality and operations provider establish their respective responsibilities through an agreement.
That allows communities to build an operational structure around their actual needs.
Missouri Requires Qualified Water and Wastewater Operators
Operator certification is an important consideration for municipal utilities.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources administers certification programs for drinking water treatment, drinking water distribution and wastewater treatment operators.
Certification helps ensure that the professionals performing these responsibilities possess the knowledge and experience appropriate for the systems they operate.
Missouri drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment certifications use multiple certification levels. The required level for a system depends in part on its size and complexity.
That creates an important staffing consideration.
A municipality cannot assume that any available employee can immediately replace a departing certified operator.
The person may need the appropriate certification and operating experience for that particular system.
When a qualified operator retires or resigns, finding a replacement can therefore be more difficult than filling a typical municipal position.
Missouri Recognizes Contract Operators
Contract operations are not an unfamiliar concept within Missouri’s regulatory framework.
Missouri DNR provides resources specifically for contract operators and public water systems considering contract operator arrangements.
For public drinking water systems that use a contract operator, Missouri requires a written agreement defining the responsibilities of the operator.
Among other elements, that agreement addresses matters such as operator duties, routine visits, certification levels and emergency response.
For municipal leaders, that provides an important distinction.
Professional contract operations are not simply an informal arrangement in which a city calls someone when there is a problem.
Responsibilities should be clearly established.
The community should know what the operator is responsible for, how the relationship will work and what level of service the municipality should expect.
Why Are Missouri Municipalities Considering Contract Operations?
There is no single reason a community evaluates outside operational support.
Often, several challenges occur at the same time.
A Certified Operator Retires
A longtime employee may possess decades of knowledge about the municipality’s treatment processes, equipment and infrastructure.
When that person retires, the community may lose both a certified professional and an enormous amount of institutional knowledge.
Planning for that transition before the employee leaves can provide time to document the system and evaluate staffing alternatives.
Recruiting a Replacement Is Difficult
A small Missouri community may be competing with larger municipalities, private utilities, industrial facilities and other employers for qualified water and wastewater professionals.
Even when the municipality receives applicants, they may not possess the certification required for the system.
Contract operations allow leaders to evaluate whether access to an established operations organization is more sustainable than repeatedly searching for one individual.
Maintenance Is Falling Behind
Utility employees frequently wear multiple hats.
Treatment, sampling, reporting, repairs and emergency calls can consume the workday.
Preventive maintenance gets postponed because another problem always appears more urgent.
Eventually, deferred maintenance can create additional emergencies.
The System Needs Additional Expertise
Some operational challenges require specialized knowledge.
Treatment processes may need optimization. Collection systems may require more structured maintenance. Infrastructure documentation may be incomplete.
A contract operations partnership can provide access to broader expertise than a municipality may be able to maintain internally.
What Services Can Alliance Water Resources Provide Missouri Communities?
Contract operations can involve much more than staffing a treatment plant.
Alliance Water Resources works with municipalities to understand their systems and determine what responsibilities should be included within the partnership.
Depending on the needs of the community, services may include:
Water Treatment Operations
Alliance can support the day-to-day operation of municipal drinking water treatment facilities, including treatment processes, monitoring, chemical management and other operating responsibilities.
Wastewater Treatment Operations
Wastewater services can include treatment process management, monitoring, equipment operation and broader facility responsibilities.
Water Distribution
Reliable drinking water service extends beyond the treatment plant.
Distribution responsibilities can include system operations, maintenance and response to infrastructure problems.
Wastewater Collection
Alliance can also work within municipal wastewater collection systems.
Services may include sewer main cleaning, jetting, camera inspections, manhole maintenance and other preventive collection system activities.
Preventive Maintenance
Structured preventive maintenance helps communities identify developing equipment and infrastructure problems before they become emergency failures.
Meter Reading and Related Utility Services
Depending on the operating agreement, municipal support can extend into additional day-to-day utility responsibilities.
GIS and System Documentation
Accurate infrastructure information can help operators respond more efficiently and preserve institutional knowledge.
GIS development and improved system documentation can become particularly valuable when longtime employees retire.
Operational Optimization
Municipal utilities may also benefit from reviewing chemical usage, treatment processes, energy consumption and routine maintenance practices.
Small operational improvements can accumulate into meaningful long-term benefits.
Contract Operations Can Help Communities Prepare for Operator Retirement
Missouri municipalities should not wait until an operator’s final week to begin succession planning.
If a longtime operator expects to retire within the next several years, municipal leadership has an opportunity to prepare.
Begin documenting:
- Treatment processes
- Equipment history
- Maintenance schedules
- Recurring system problems
- Infrastructure locations
- Sampling and reporting procedures
- Emergency procedures
- Vendor information
- Institutional knowledge
Then evaluate who will assume those responsibilities.
The municipality may choose to develop another internal employee.
It may recruit externally.
It may explore contract operations.
The important thing is to begin before the position becomes vacant.
A planned transition gives the incoming operator or operations team an opportunity to learn directly from the employee who understands the system best.
Missouri’s Smaller Communities May Benefit From Organizational Depth
A small municipality may only need a handful of people to operate its utility.
That can be efficient, but it can also create vulnerability.
What happens when the primary operator is sick or goes on vacation?
What happens if two employees leave within the same year?
Who understands the system when the longtime operator retires?
Who handles an unusual treatment problem when it arrises or takes responsibility when preventive maintenance continually falls behind?
A municipality should evaluate not only whether it has enough employees today, but whether the organization has enough depth to remain reliable when circumstances change.
Contract operations can provide access to a larger operational organization rather than making the system dependent on one individual.
Contract Operations Are About More Than Staffing
Staffing problems may start the conversation, but they should not necessarily define it.
A municipality evaluating contract operations has an opportunity to look at the entire utility.
Is maintenance being completed?
Are recurring sewer problems being investigated?
Is system knowledge documented?
Is it possible that GIS could be improved?
Are chemical dosages regularly reviewed and are pumps and other equipment operating efficiently?
Are employees constantly reacting to emergencies, and are regulatory responsibilities integrated into everyday operations?
A contract operations partnership can become an opportunity to establish more consistent systems and processes across the utility.
That can provide value long after the original staffing vacancy has been addressed.
When Should a Missouri Municipality Consider Contract Operations?
There is no universal threshold.
However, municipal leaders should consider evaluating their options when they see several warning signs occurring together.
These can include:
- Difficulty recruiting certified operators
- Upcoming operator retirements
- Heavy dependence on one employee
- Recurring water or sewer emergencies
- Deferred preventive maintenance
- Incomplete infrastructure records
- Repeated equipment failures
- Increasing compliance responsibilities
- Collection system problems
- Treatment challenges
- Rapid community growth
- Need for additional technical expertise
Evaluating contract operations does not obligate a municipality to make a change.
It simply provides leaders with another option to compare against the current operating structure.
Questions Missouri Municipal Leaders Should Ask
Before selecting any contract operations provider, municipal leaders should understand exactly what the proposed relationship includes.
Ask:
- What certifications will be required for our system?
- Who will be responsible for daily operations?
- What responsibilities remain with the municipality?
- How will emergencies be handled?
- What maintenance responsibilities are included?
- How will system performance be documented?
- How will municipal leadership receive updates?
- What happens when the primary operator is unavailable?
- What additional expertise is available when unusual problems arise?
- How will existing municipal employees fit into the operating structure?
- What is the transition process?
Clear expectations create stronger partnerships.
Alliance Water Resources’ Four C’s
Municipal leaders do not need to know exactly what they want before beginning the conversation with Alliance Water Resources.
The process starts by understanding the community.
Contact Alliance
Tell us what is happening.
Maybe an operator is retiring and/or recruiting has been unsuccessful.
Maybe maintenance is falling behind.
Perhaps municipal leadership simply wants to understand whether another operating model exists.
Collect Information
Alliance evaluates the facilities, infrastructure, staffing, certifications, maintenance responsibilities and current operational challenges.
Consider Your Options
Municipal leaders can then evaluate potential approaches and determine what structure makes sense.
That may involve a specific service or broader contract operations.
Contract: Partner
If contract operations are the right solution, Alliance and the municipality establish the scope of responsibilities and begin building the partnership.
A Missouri Water or Wastewater System Should Not Depend on Luck
Municipal utilities provide essential services every day.
Communities should not have to hope that the right certified operator applies for an open position.
They should not have to hope an aging pump survives another year.
They should not have to hope a longtime employee does not retire before someone learns the system.
And they should not have to wait for a compliance or infrastructure problem before evaluating how their utility is being managed.
Contract operations give Missouri municipalities another option.
For some communities, maintaining an internal utility team will continue to make sense.
For others, access to a professional operations organization can provide staffing depth, technical expertise, preventive maintenance and greater continuity.
Alliance Water Resources works with Missouri communities to provide water and wastewater operations designed around the needs of individual systems.
If your municipality is struggling to recruit certified operators, preparing for retirement, falling behind on maintenance or evaluating the long-term future of its water or wastewater utility, start with a conversation.
Collect the information.
Consider your options.
Then decide whether a contract partnership is right for your community.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Missouri municipalities use contract water operators?
Yes. Missouri DNR specifically provides resources for contract operators and public drinking water systems using contract operators. Applicable certification and agreement requirements must be followed.
Does Missouri require water operators to be certified?
Missouri maintains certification programs for drinking water treatment and distribution operators. The certification required depends on the system and responsibilities involved.
Does Missouri certify wastewater treatment operators?
Yes. Missouri DNR administers wastewater treatment operator certification, with certification levels associated with operator qualifications and system requirements.
What should a Missouri contract operator agreement include?
For public drinking water systems using contract operators, Missouri DNR guidance identifies required elements including operator duties and responsibilities, routine visit frequency and duration, required and held certification levels, emergency response expectations and information about assisting employees.
Can Alliance Water Resources operate both water and wastewater systems in Missouri?
Alliance Water Resources provides contract water and wastewater operations and related utility services. The specific scope of each partnership is established according to the municipality’s facilities, responsibilities and operational needs.