Orange County NC Website
OWASA Annual Report 7 <br /> January 29, 2019 <br /> Page 6 <br /> A public meeting was coordinated by the project partners before blasting commenced. Low <br /> intensity underground blasting is currently underway. The project is now anticipated to be <br /> complete in the Spring of 2019. <br /> 9. Equal employment opportunity annual report 2017-18 <br /> At the end of the fiscal year, OWASA's workforce was comprised of 23.2%Women and 76.8% <br /> Men, representing an increase in gender diversity from last year(when OWASA's workforce <br /> was comprised of 21.9% Women and 78.1%Men). <br /> In terms of racial representation, at the end of the fiscal year, OWASA's workforce was 74.4% <br /> White, 12.8%Black, 6.4% Two or More Races, 3.2%Hispanic, 2.4%Asian, and 0.8%American <br /> Indian or Alaska Native. Overall, minority representation at OWASA at fiscal end was 25.6%, <br /> remaining generally the same as the year before when minority representation was 25.8%. <br /> OWASA has the opportunity to improve diversity at all levels of the organization and will <br /> continue to strive to do so. <br /> 10. Diversity& Inclusion Program <br /> OWASA's Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)program has two goals: 1) to foster diversity in our <br /> workforce reflecting the communities we serve, and 2) enable an inclusive environment that <br /> encourages and supports each team member to contribute to their full ability towards OWASA's <br /> mission. OWASA's Diversity Resource Group, Diversity Recruitment Group, Diversity <br /> Leadership Group, and supervisors have received 16 hours of training. Voluntary employee <br /> trainings have also occurred. <br /> OWASA has also completed a review of its recruitment processes, career development <br /> programs, mentoring program and promotional opportunities. With learnings from this review <br /> and input from the D&I groups, D&I activities now include: the development of recruitment <br /> plans for each recruitment incorporating local census data (to develop applicant targets for <br /> under-represented groups), training on new standard processes for interview panels, and training <br /> for supervisors. The Board of Directors has also had four training sessions. <br /> 11. Energy management <br /> In April 2017, the Board adopted an Energy Management Plan. Goals included reducing <br /> OWASA's use of purchased natural gas by 5%by 2020 (compared to a 2010 baseline), reducing <br /> use of purchased electricity by 35%by 2020 (compared to a 2010 baseline), and beneficially <br /> using all Wastewater Treatment Plant biogas by 2022 (provided the preferred strategy is <br /> projected to have a positive payback within the expected life of the required equipment). <br /> For the first time since these goals were set, OWASA reached its natural gas use reduction goal <br /> of 5%. From December 2017 to November 2018, we used 7.3% less natural gas than we did in <br /> 2010, in large part due to our use of the methane generated by anaerobic digestion at the <br /> Wastewater Treatment Plant(rather than pipeline natural gas). This repurposed energy was used <br />