提高成本竞争力和客户响应能力的需求被视为北美水和废水公用事业公司最重要的目标。私营公用事业公司已经认识到，它们可以竞争运营效率不高的现有公用事业公司的运营。公用事业不能再像过去那样，以垄断地位保证其继续存在和运营。佐治亚州哥伦布市的哥伦布水厂（CWW）是一家公共事业公司，为哥伦布市、佐治亚州附近哈里斯县和塔尔博特县的部分地区以及阿拉巴马州的菲尼克斯市提供供水和废水处理服务。 自20世纪90年代初以来，CWW的高级管理层认识到，为了与私营部门竞争，需要高效、高效地提供水和废水服务。此外，CWW认识到需要成为一个以客户服务为中心的组织。本文讨论了CWW为实现客户满意度所做的战略规划工作。

The need to become more cost competitive and customer responsive is being recognizedas the most important goal of water and wastewater utilities throughout North America. Private utilities have recognized that they can compete for the operation of existing public utilities that do not operate efficiently. Public utilities can no longer rest assured that their position as a monopoly will guarantee their continued existence and operation as in the past. Columbus Water Works (CWW) of Columbus, Georgia, is a public utility that provides water and wastewater services to the City of Columbus, portions of nearby Harris County and Talbot County in Georgia, and Phenix City in Alabama. Since the early 1990s, CWW senior management has recognized the need to operate efficiently and effectively in delivering water and wastewater services in order to be competitive with the private sector. In addition, CWW has recognized the need to be a customer services focused organization. This paper discusses CWW's strategic planning efforts to achieve customer satisfaction.