DIRECTOR'S OFFICE
Director: Thomas M. Leahy, III, P.E.
Under the direction of Thomas Leahy, the staff of the Department of Public Utilities is dedicated to providing our customers with the best possible water and sewer utility service at the lowest possible cost.
The employees of Public Utilities daily plan, design, build, operate, and maintain a utility system that delivers, on average, 35 MGD (million gallons per day) of potable water to our customers, and also carries away 35 MGD of wastewater to be treated at one of the two sewage treatment plants in Virginia Beach. The sanitary sewer treatment plants are operated by the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), a quasi-governmental organization established to provide sewer treatment service to the communities of the Hampton Roads area.
The Department of Public Utilities is organized into the following Divisions:
BUSINESS DIVISION
Business Division Manager: Robert S. Montague, Jr.e-mail: bmontagu@vbgov.com
The Business Division is responsible for financial, human resources, and budget management functions of the department. The staff of this division perform short and long term financial plans for the department, coordinate cost of service and rate studies, and coordinate debt issuances for water and sanitary sewer infrastructure financing. They provide periodic statistical reports on water consumption, performance, and trends for use by other city staff, as well as informational publications for Public Utilities customers.
Water conservation and other public education initiatives are coordinated by this division.
The Business Division also maintains a Customer Call Center which handles over 200,000 service inquiries each year. This division is also responsible for billing and collecting utility service fees for over 130,000 accounts on a bi-monthly basis. These collections, along with fees collected for new connections to the utility system, fund the operations of the Department of Public Utilities.
The division also provides field service to connect and disconnect water service for customers, and conduct high consumption investigations of customer accounts.
ENGINEERING DIVISION
Utility Engineering Manager: Robert E. Clark, P.E.
e-mail: rclark@vbgov.com
The Engineering Division provides the engineering support necessary to provide for the efficient planning, review, expansion, modification, and coordination of the city's water and sanitary sewer utility infrastructure.
The quality assurance inspections of all utility work installed by private development activity or as a result of the Capital Improvement Program are also handled by this division.
Staff also maintain files, records, and mapping of the water and sanitary sewer utility infrastructure.
OPERATIONS DIVISION
Utility Operations Manager: James W. Sarver, P.E.e-mail: jsarver@vbgov.com
The Operations & Maintenance Division provides for the monitoring, maintenance, and operation of the water and sanitary sewer system. This division operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide uninterrupted water and sanitary sewer service to Public Utilities customers. Staff are responsible for the upkeep of 406 sanitary sewer pumping stations, 12 water tanks, eight water pumping stations and over 1,500 miles each of water and sewer pipelines.
This division also operates a certified laboratory for the collection and analysis of water samples to assure compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act legislation.
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