WaterWorks 2011 – Providing a Premiere Utility Infrastructure for the Sustainable Future of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The City of Fort Lauderdale is committed to improving its residents' quality of life by providing modern wastewater service to all customers, improving the quality and reliability of drinking water, and leaving in place a sustainable infrastructure. The capital improvements needed to meet these goals were outlined in a 20-year Master Plan. However, a decision was made by the City Commission to condense the time frame from 20 years to less than 10 years, so that all improvements will be completed prior to the City's centennial in 2011. The Commission also established a firm budget of 608 million for completing the Master Plan designated improvements.To meet the City's goals, the WaterWorks 2011 program was created and a Program Management Team (PMT) formed as a partnership between the City of Fort Lauderdale and private consultants. The PMT will oversee the planning, design and construction of over 300 projects during the next eight years with the assistance of the City's Engineering Department and seven outside consulting firms.The WaterWorks 2011 PMT was formed in 2001 and provides financial, planning, engineering, construction management, administrative and other types of assistance to the City's Public Services Department which owns and operates the water and wastewater infrastructure. To meet the aggressive program schedule and to ensure fiscal accountability, the City designated WaterWorks 2011 as the entity with the management capability, technical resources, financial ability, administrative agility and the flexibility required to successfully implement the infrastructure improvements. Authority and access to City processes were provided by combining senior City staff along with consultants' staff and granting department level status to the PMT.