Mission, Vision, Principles & Values

Mission

Our business is to provide high quality utility services and optimize value to the consumers, the environment and shareholders.

• providing residents with clean, safe water - an essential foundation to our quality of life
• collecting and treating wastewater carefully and efficiently returning it to the environment responsibly
• managing solid waste collection, landfill, and recycling operations
• capitalizing on new water, wastewater, solid waste, and energy utility opportunities

Vision 

Aquatera Utilities Inc. is a full service utility corporation - the provider of choice for governments, businesses, and communities.  

• grow our non-core business to equal our core business by 2020.
• be below the median Alberta utility rate by 2020.
• double the cash flow to shareholders by 2020.

Principles

All Aquatera employees endorse and commit to exemplifying the following principles which have been established by our Board. These principles will guide our actions and ensure our success. 

Be an exemplary employer

We will:

• strive for the highest levels of workplace safety and employee satisfaction
• continually acknowledge that employees are our greatest strength and asset
• ensure our principles and values are practiced by everyone throughout our organization
• encourage best performance through: 
• fair compensation 
• regular evaluation 
• meaningful reward and recognition 
• supporting continuous learning and personal growth opportunities 

Model environmental stewardship

• provide clean, safe drinking water
• protect, conserve and manage our water supply both now and for the future
• collect and treat wastewater carefully & efficiently and return it to the environment responsibly
• minimize the environmental impact of our services
• provide more opportunities for reducing, reusing and recycling and educate consumers about available services
• always meet and strive to exceed environmental standards

Provide first class customer service

• strive to understand and appreciate our customer’s concerns, needs and expectations
• resolve service requests in a courteous and timely manner

Ensure an appropriate balance between profitability and affordability

• work within our means, using resources efficiently
• conduct our business in a planned, proactive manner 
• provide service value; a fair price for a quality product
• be a sustainable company providing a reasonable return to our shareholders

Innovate and lead in the development of best practices

• identify and adopt best practices where it makes sense
• explore  and implement new methods and technology to attain better outcomes  
• pursue complimentary and strategic alliances with others 

Expand markets within the bounds of a sound business approach

• pursue new business opportunities and expand in areas where it makes good sense to do so
• assess and capitalize on our strengths
• establish priorities to control our future growth
• actively promote our services throughout Northwestern Alberta and beyond

Communicate to enhance understanding, acceptance and support

Values

In addition to these Principles, we commit to the following Values, which will guide our day-to-day operations and our interactions with our customers, partners, suppliers and with each other.

We will:

Be accountable by:

• taking responsibility for our actions
• acknowledging and building upon successes and learning from mistakes
• practicing confidentiality
• expressing a willingness to learn and accept help

• listening to understand
• contributing openly and honestly
• ensuring customers are aware of our service and the benefits of our initiatives
• eliciting new ideas and valuing the input and opinions of our staff

Be flexible in adapting to changing circumstances and to do what needs to be done

Practice integrity by:

• honouring our commitments
• doing the right thing in addition to doing things right and providing consistent, reliable products and services on time

• striving to do the job right the first time
• demonstrating pride in our work
• always meeting our standards
• working and delivering our products and services safely

Treat each other with courtesy and treat others the way they want to be treated

Measure teamwork by:

• helping and supporting each other
• working together to achieve our common goals
• recognizing that everyone’s skills and abilities contribute to the competency and success of the team