Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Utilities |
Founded | 1869 |
Headquarters | , USA |
Key people | Nadine Leslie |
Products | Water treatment, waste management |
Revenue | $764 million (2013) |
Number of employees | 2,350 (2013) |
Parent | Suez Environnement |
Website | www |
Suez North America is an American water service company headquartered in Paramus, New Jersey. It owns and operates 16 water and waste water utilities, and operates 90 municipal water and waste water systems through public-private partnerships and contract agreements. [1] The company has over 2,300 employees, and in 2013, United Water generated $764 million in revenue, and managed $3.2 billion in total assets. [1] The original business was founded as Hackensack Water Company in 1869 and later named United Water. It became a subsidiary of Suez Environnement, a French-based utility company, in 2000, and changed its name to reflect that of its parent company in 2015.
The company was founded as the Hackensack Water Company in 1869 as a water supply and storage company. Adrian Leiby's monograph, The Hackensack Water Company, 1869-1969, [2] provides an interesting history of the company's first century, both covering key people and events and their contemporary context. The company originally served the city of Hackensack and the towns of North Hudson. [2] It grew over the decades, extending its service to other towns of northern New Jersey and building several reservoirs, including Oradell Reservoir and, in partnership with the Spring Valley Water Company just across the New York state line, Lake DeForest. [2] For a time in the early 20th century, it supplied Hoboken, although Hoboken later switched its water supply to the Jersey City water system. [2]
In 1983 Hackensack Water reorganized into United Water Resources, Inc., and in 1994 it acquired General Waterworks Corporation for $200 million. [3] In 2000, Suez Environnement acquired United Water. [4]
In November 2008, Bertrand Camus became the CEO of Suez North America. [5] In 2014, Engineering News-Record ranked Suez North America the third largest provider of water treatment and supply services in the United States. [6]
In April 2014, United Water was given a $5.5 million state tax break from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to prevent the company from moving its headquarters out of New Jersey and into New York. [7] [8] The company still planned to move out of Harrington Park, considering two New Jersey locations. [7] In June 2015, Suez Environnement opened their new North American Corporate Headquarters in Paramus, New Jersey. [9]
At the 2012 meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, United Water made a commitment to engage private investors and work with municipalities to establish agreements wherein the company would take over operations, maintenance, and capital improvement of water utilities in municipalities across the country, starting with Nassau County, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey. [10] [11] This model won the Partnership Performance of the Year award at the 2012 American Water Summit. [12]
In December 2012, United Water and KKR, together forming the Bayonne Water Joint Venture (BWJV), entered into a concession agreement with the Municipal Utilities Authority of Bayonne, New Jersey. [13] The 40-year agreement is a public-private partnership between the BWJV and the city in which the private partners pay off the Bayonne Municipal Utility Authority's (BMUA) $130 million debt and take over the operations, maintenance, and capital improvement of Bayonne's water and wastewater utilities in exchange for a regulated share of the revenue. [14] [15] [16] United Water is managing the operations for the partnership, while KKR is providing 90% of the funding. [17]
In June 2014, Nassau County announced that it had partnered with United Water to operate its three wastewater treatment plants and sewage collection system for 20 years. [18] [19] In exchange for operating the wastewater system and providing at least $10 million in savings each year, Nassau County will pay United Water $57.4 million annually (adjusted for inflation). [20] The county's financial consultant on the agreement, the PFM Group, estimated savings over the term of the contract at $233.1 million, and up to $378.9 million when 'Synergy Savings', including reduced overtime and personnel reassignments, are taken into account. [18] Nassau County will maintain ownership of the wastewater system and jurisdiction over its utility rates, which are not expected to rise. [20]
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 15th-most-populous municipality, surpassing 2010 #15 Passaic, with a population of 71,686, an increase of 8,662 (+13.7%) from the 2010 census count of 63,024, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,182 (+1.9%) from the 61,842 counted in the 2000 census. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 69,527 in 2022, ranking the city the 543rd-most-populous in the country.
Lake Tappan is a reservoir impounded by the Tappan Dam on the Hackensack River, straddling the border between the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. Within New Jersey, the lake traverses the border separating the municipalities of River Vale and Old Tappan in Bergen County, while extending northward across the New York state line into the town of Orangetown in Rockand County. The reservoir was formed in 1967, flooding areas that included the former CAPROC Field Civil Air Patrol airstrip.
Woodcliff Lake is the name of a reservoir in Woodcliff Lake and portions of Hillsdale and Park Ridge, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It was created circa 1903 by damming the Pascack Brook and is also fed by the Bear Brook which joins the Pascack at the reservoir. The creation of the lake led what had been the Borough of Woodcliff to change its name to Woodcliff Lake, to match the name of the new reservoir. The reservoir is owned by Suez North America, a private utility.
Water privatization is short for private sector participations in the provision of water services and sanitation. Water privatization has a variable history in which its popularity and favorability has fluctuated in the market and politics. One of the common forms of privatization is public–private partnerships (PPPs). PPPs allow for a mix between public and private ownership and/or management of water and sanitation sources and infrastructure. Privatization, as proponents argue, may not only increase efficiency and service quality but also increase fiscal benefits. There are different forms of regulation in place for current privatization systems.
Suez S.A., known from 1997 to 2001 as Suez-Lyonnaise des eaux, was a leading French multinational corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, with operations primarily in water, electricity and natural gas supply, and waste management. Suez was the result of a 1997 merger between the Compagnie de Suez and Lyonnaise des Eaux, a leading French water company. In the early 2000s Suez also owned some media and telecommunications assets, but has since divested these. According to the Masons Water Yearbook 2004/5, Suez served 117.4 million people around the world. The company conducted a merger of equals with fellow utility company Gaz de France on 22 July 2008 to form GDF Suez. The water and waste assets of Suez were spun off into a separate publicly traded company, Suez Environnement.
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The Oradell Reservoir is a reservoir formed by the Oradell Reservoir Dam on the Hackensack River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.
Bayfront is an urban redevelopment project in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Hackensack River Greenway, once known as the Hackensack RiverWalk, a is partially constructed greenway along the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.
Suez SA is a French-based utility company which operates largely in the water and waste management sectors. The company has its head office in La Défense, Paris. In 2015, all the group's brands became SUEZ.
The Hackensack Water Company Complex is a set of historic buildings in Weehawken, New Jersey, registered in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Hackensack Water Company, a predecessor of Suez North America, developed water supply and storage in northeastern New Jersey from the 1870s to the 1970s, initially to provide service to the city of Hackensack and the towns of North Hudson. Originally its headquarters and major facilities were located at Hackensack, in Bergen County. Under Robert W. de Forest, who ran the Hackensack Water Company for 46 years beginning in 1881, the company constructed new facilities and moved its headquarters to Weehawken in Hudson County, setting up offices in a brick water tower, part of the present complex.
Essential Utilities is an American utility company that has stakes in Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia The company provides drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure and services. Essential Utilities is the publicly traded ($WTRG) parent company that oversees the continued business of Aqua America and Peoples Natural Gas, who both continue to do business under their original names.
Drinking water supply and sanitation in Egypt is characterized by both achievements and challenges. Among the achievements are an increase of piped water supply between 1998 and 2006 from 89% to 100% in urban areas and from 39% to 93% in rural areas despite rapid population growth; the elimination of open defecation in rural areas during the same period; and in general a relatively high level of investment in infrastructure. Access to an at least basic water source in Egypt is now practically universal with a rate of 98%. On the institutional side, the regulation and service provision have been separated to some extensions through the creation of a national Holding Company for Water and Wastewater in 2004, and of an economic regulator, the Egyptian Water Regulatory Agency (EWRA), in 2006. , many challenges remain. Only about one half of the population is connected to sanitary sewers. Partly because of low sanitation coverage about 50,000 children die each year because of diarrhea. Another challenge is low cost recovery due to water tariffs that are among the lowest in the world. This in turn requires government subsidies even for operating costs, a situation that has been aggravated by salary increases without tariff increases after the Arab Spring. Poor operation of facilities, such as water and wastewater treatment plants, as well as limited government accountability and transparency, are also issues.
Water supply and sanitation in Greece is characterised by diversity. While Athens receives its water from a series of reservoirs, some of which are located 200 km away, some small islands are supplied with water from tankers. Greeks have suffered from repeated droughts, the most recent one occurring in 2007. The EU supported the construction of numerous wastewater treatment plants since the 1990s in order to achieve EU environmental standards. While the wastewater discharge of the biggest cities is now in compliance with these standards, some smaller towns still lag behind.
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