April Sustainability Spotlight: TN American Water

This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is one of the primary utility providers in the Chattanooga area, Tennessee American Water. American Water has been serving the country since 1886, providing water and wastewater utilities in 24 states. 

We sat down with Daphne Kirksey, TN American Water’s External Affairs Manager, to chat about how the company is promoting sustainability in the Chattanooga region and why they chose to sponsor the Green Prix this year.

“Sustainability is actually one of our stated values. It's environmental leadership and we take water quality very seriously,” Kirksey shared. “That means reaching out to the community and messaging about how it's important that all of us play a part in the stewardship of the actual natural resource. And on our end, it's making sure that we're providing the best quality product after we treat the natural resources so that it's a drinkable, safe product.”

TN American Water is a decorated utility provider that participates in many programs to benefit the community. Kirksey shared that the company has never had a notice of violation from the EPA in the company’s 130+ year history. Additionally, TN American Water participates in a voluntary EPA program called Partnership for Safe Water and has achieved the director’s award for the program for the last 22 years.

This spring, TN American Water sponsored Brown Academy’s Green Prix advisor. “We thought that was important because we know that teachers have a lot on their plates and this is something they're taking on additionally, but they're passionate about and they want to expose their students to,” said Kirksey.

Another program the utility provider has sponsored is Chattanooga’s Drug Takeback program. This allows them to help improve the quality of water in the area.

“A lot of times Drug Takeback is looked at more as a drug abuse prevention program,” Kirksey explained. “But we also want to message that instead of flushing medications down the toilet to get rid of them, that you should drop them off at a lockbox or during the community-wide Drug Takeback events.”

“We've actually been part of the conversation with the Climate Action Plan,” Kirksey concluded about Mayor Kelly’s new Climate Action Plan. “I think maybe one of the most important things that all of us are focused on is resiliency of critical infrastructure with climate change. The way that specifically Tennessee American Water is contributing is our focus on what's known as the Utility Resilience Index. It's an assessment of a utility's ability to absorb and cope with an incident and return to normal operations. So that's part of our focus this year.”

For more information on TN American Water’s grants and programs, visit their website at https://www.amwater.com/tnaw/News-Community/.

Written by Anna Truss