The growth was attributable to expansion within both segments of the company's business, as substantial gains were made in both regulated and non-regulated sectors.
By the end of the decade, the company was ready to enter a new line of business, encouraged by the overwhelming success recorded during the late s. In the company's regulated utility operations, growth was achieved from modest increases in Suburban Water Systems' existing markets and through the acquisition of water and wastewater systems.
In , for example, the company purchased 49 percent of Windermere Utility Company, located near Austin, Texas. Sales efforts, aimed at securing new contracts and renewing existing contracts, provided substantial growth as well. From its base in the Houston area, ECO Resources was expanding its presence in Texas and broadening its geographic scope by securing contracts with utility districts and private companies in California, New Mexico, and Mississippi. By , Southwest Water supplied water and wastewater services to nearly , people.
The majority of the company's customers resided in California and Texas, where Southwest Water served , people in each state. Mississippi, with , customers, and New Mexico, home to 20, Southwest Water customers, represented the balance of the company's customer base.
Southwest Water suffered its losses during the year, such as the decision by the City of Rio Rancho, located in New Mexico, not to renew the company's contract.
In , Southwest Water secured more than a dozen new contracts, helping to compensate for unusually wet weather in California. In , another year hailed as the best in the company's history, Southwest Water outstripped the accomplishments of the previous year. During the year, the company secured 20 new contracts and renewed contracts with 22 existing clients.
A drier in California also produced gains in the company's regulated operations, leading to a 12 percent increase in water sales. In New Mexico, more good news was to be found, as residential and commercial development expanded the company's utility customer base by 16 percent. Southwest Water's contract operations expanded by 16 percent in , accounting for 53 percent of the company's total revenues.
Regulated utility business, which constituted the company's entire business before , accounted for 45 percent of Southwest Water's revenue volume. Garnier would soon add another dimension to Southwest Water's operations, as the company prepared to enter the 21st century enjoying the most successful years in its history.
The addition of the contract in Lamont combined with the contracts signed in gave the company more than 60, new customers. On the regulated utility side of Southwest Water's business, the company's customer count increased as well in February , when the City of West Covina's water distribution system was acquired, increasing the company's customer base in California by 11 percent.
Garnier steered Southwest Water in a new direction in , engineering the company's first foray into a non-governmental market. Master Tek's customers were property owners of multi-family housing units for whom Master Tek provided utility metering, billing, and collection services, enabling property owners to bill individual utility usage.
Southwest Water's record-setting year also included substantial gains in the company's regulated utility operations. In October , the company acquired an additional 31 percent stake in Windermere Utility Company, bolstering the 49 percent interest the company acquired in Also in October, the company purchased percent of Hornsby Bend Utility Company, a water utility situated adjacent to Windermere Utility.
Over the years, Romark struggled with water quality and had numerous notices of violations and enforcement actions levied against it for various infractions by the Texas Department of Environmental Quality. SouthWest Water Company has been owned and operated water and wastewater utilities in Texas since and has significant experience in turning around utilities with environmental and water quality issues.
SouthWest Water Company has a strategy to grow within the states it currently operates by acquiring water utilities that are adjacent to their current operations. Romark was identified as an acquisition target that met their criteria and a private transaction was negotiated and closed. The system is comprised of a service area on the southern shores of Lake Livingston, Texas with approximately water connections. Water is drawn from wells, treated, and stored in a 43, gallon storage tank when not in demand.
After negotiating a fair price and taking ownership of the system, SouthWest Water Company implemented a capital improvement plan that included converting the water disinfection into a safer liquid chlorine process. Aging water meters were converted to modern wireless Automated Meter Reading capable meters. In addition, a plan has been worked out with the Texas Department of Environmental Quality to address the enforcement actions that had been previously levied.
Aside from a fair price, ORAP had other goals: allow it to focus on operating resorts and continuance of the strong customer service it had provided the utility customers over the years. SouthWest Water Company offered an attractive purchase price, made employment offers for existing employees, and struck a deal with ORAP for ORAP to continue providing customer service support while SouthWest Water Company transitioned ownership which minimized the effects on customers.
ORAP and SouthWest Water Company also agreed to purchase emergency generators in order to continue providing service to customers in the event of power loss.
The transaction was another win for the owner, the customer, and SouthWest Water. Pristine Water Source Pristine is a non-regulated utility with exclusive rights to provide potable water and wastewater collection to a residential development near Klamath Falls, OR. Pristine services over one hundred customers and was ultimately owned by Premier Community Bank.
The owner came into possession of Pristine after the residential development went into receivership. The owner operated the systems for several years before realizing the long term growth of the development would be better served by a full-time professional water services provider.
SouthWest Water Company offered an attractive purchase price and helped the owner accomplish its goals. Are you a water or wastewater treatment owner? Contact Our Business Development Team. SouthWest Water Company provides a broad range of operations, maintenance and management services, including water production, treatment and distribution; wastewater collection and treatment; customer service; and utility infrastructure construction management.
Learn More…. We have experience in virtually every aspect of water and wastewater system operation. Our focus on water is the entire cycle of water from its point of origin through transporting, treating, distributing and recycling and its repeated uses, and we take pride in this stewardship. With managing water and wastewater treatment, we understand the responsibility of providing water instantly, ensuring water is safe and meets all federal and state health guidelines.
An equal emphasis is placed on our treatment of wastewater so it may be safely returned to the environment for reuse.
We all take pride in the jobs we do to assist in the ultimate job of providing safe and reliable water and producing clean water to return back to the environment through our wastewater services.
With that pride comes empowerment, we want our customers feel heard and at the same time feel empowered with knowledge about their water and all that goes into providing great service here at SouthWest Water.
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