Suez North America is an American water service company headquartered in

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

. 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. 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. The original business was founded as Hackensack Water Company in 1869 and later named United Water. It became a subsidiary of

Suez Environnement Suez SA (formerly Suez Environnement) 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.water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

and storage company. Adrian Leiby's monograph, ''The Hackensack Water Company, 1869-1969'', 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. It grew over the decades, extending its service to other towns of

northern New Jersey North Jersey, also known as Northern New Jersey, comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. As a distinct toponym, North Jersey is a colloquial one rather than an a ...

and building several

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

s, including

Oradell Reservoir The Oradell Reservoir is a reservoir formed by the Oradell Dam on the Hackensack River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Geography The Oradell Reservoir Dam is located primarily in the borough of Oradell, but the reservoir also extend ...

and, in partnership with the Spring Valley Water Company just across the New York state line,

Lake DeForest Lake DeForest, also called DeForest Lake, is a reservoir in Clarkstown, New York, created in 1956 by impounding the Hackensack River, which is a principal part of the water supply for Rockland County, New York and Northern New Jersey, mainly Berge ...

. For a time in the early 20th century, it supplied

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; ) is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popula ...

, although Hoboken later switched its water supply to the

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

water system. In 1983 Hackensack Water reorganized into United Water Resources, Inc., and in 1994 it acquired General Waterworks Corporation for $200 million. In 2000,

Suez Environnement Suez SA (formerly Suez Environnement) 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.Engineering News-Record The ''Engineering News-Record'' (widely known as ''ENR'') is an American weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide. It is widely regarded as one of the construction industry's most au ...

'' ranked Suez North America the third largest provider of water treatment and supply services in the United States. 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. The company still planned to move out of Harrington Park, considering two New Jersey locations. In June 2015, Suez Environnement opened their new North American Corporate Headquarters in Paramus, New Jersey.

Activities

Water partnership model

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 Nassau County ( ) is a suburban County (United States), county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City, bordering the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean to the south. As of the 2020 United St ...

and

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Gateway Region on Bergen Neck, a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York ...

. This model won the Partnership Performance of the Year award at the 2012 American Water Summit.

Bayonne

In December 2012, United Water and

KKR KKR may refer to: * KKR & Co., a global investment firm *Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League franchise * Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant (), first nuclear power plant in the former East Germany * Kalkara, Malta, postal code KKR *Kir-Bala ...

, together forming the Bayonne Water Joint Venture (BWJV), entered into a concession agreement with the Municipal Utilities Authority of

.Hack, Charles (July 23, 2012
"United Water to take over operations of Bayonne's water, sewer systems in $150 million deal"
NJ.com 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. United Water is managing the operations for the partnership, while KKR is providing 90% of the funding.

Nassau County

In June 2014, Nassau County announced that it had partnered with United Water to operate its three

wastewater treatment Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater. It thus converts it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once back in the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on ...

plants and sewage collection system for 20 years. 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). 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. Nassau County will maintain ownership of the wastewater system and jurisdiction over its utility rates, which are not expected to rise.

References

External links

*
Ask Bill Clinton: Are There Bipartisan Ways to Boost U.S. Infrastructure Investment?KKR joins private equity charge in U.S. water
{{Authority control Water companies of the United States Engie United Water Companies established in 1869 1869 establishments in New Jersey