Using Environmental Management Systems to Lower Operating Costs and Improve Performance

The Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) operates an 80 million gallon per day (MGD) wastewater treatment plant located in Camden, NJ. It also operates a 100-mile sewer collection system and 25 pumping stations ranging from 1 MGD to 54 MGD in capacity.The CCMUA has identified three fundamental goals that are critical to the success of its operation:Optimization of Water Quality PerformanceOptimization of Air Quality PerformanceCost MinimizationIn order to meet these goals, the CCMUA implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS). The EMS was tremendously successful for the CCMUA. Specifically, the CCMUA was able to significantly reduce its operating costs and thereby has held its sewer service user rate for thirteen consecutive years, with three rate cuts during that time frame.Reductions in operating costs did not result in sacrificing the CCMUA's environmental goals. On the contrary, the CCMUA's water quality and odor control performance also improved greatly as a direct result of the greater efficiencies associated with implementing the EMS.This paper will discuss the benefits of implementing an EMS and will outline the specific measures that the CCMUA took, through the EMS, to reduce its operating costs, and improve its environmental performance.