USFilter awarded US$ 1.5b water contract

The City of Indianapolis selected USFilter Operating Services, a subsidiary of USFilter Corporation, to manage its waterworks system under a 20-year public-private partnership valued at approximately US$ 1.5 billion. This contract represents the largest public-private partnership for water services in the USA.

USFilter will manage all operations, maintenance and customer service facets of the city's waterworks system that currently serves 1.1 million people. Out of the US$ 1.5 billion contract, some US$ 1.1 billion represents operations and maintenance service fees and some US$ 400 million reflects capital improvement projects expected to be managed by the company.

Key to the selection were the company's aggressive approach to resolving water taste and odour problems that have plagued the waterworks system for years, its commitment to invest in plant upgrades and the incentive-based compensation plan proposed by USFilter. Under that plan, a portion of the company's fees will be paid only if the company meets specified customer service, water quality, operations and other performance measures.