In January of 2004, Mayor Jon Costas put into place a new organizational structure for the City of Valparaiso in order to streamline City government.   This new structure included integrating the Department of Water Works and the Water Reclamation Department into one (1) City wide utility.   There were many reasons for combining both municipal utilities and some of those reasons are as follows:

1. Both organizations are customer service driven.
2. Each utility serves virtually the same residential, business and industrial user accounts.
3. Both are deeply committed to the environment.
4. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) greatly regulate both utilities.
5. The types of vehicle and process equipment used by both utilities are similar.
6. The combining of similar functions, such as vehicle maintenance and field services, would provide an econimic benefit to both utilities.

On April 1, 2004, this new City utility organization came into existence after the Utilities Director assumed directorship over both the Department of Water Works and the Water Reclamation Department.   The new combined utility organization is now known as the Valpariso City Utilities.   The City of Valparaiso's Stormwater Management Program or Municipal Seperate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Program was added to the utilitie's responsibilities in 2009.

Today, the Valparaiso City Utilities is governed by five (5) member Valparaiso City Utility Board of Directors and encompasses drinking water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment and stormwater collection.   The utility has an operating budget of $11.68 million for fiscal year 2010 and a capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2010 thru 2014 of $17.4 million.   Valparaiso City Utilities is currently comprised of sixty-nine (69) employees working in Administration, Customer Service, Finance, Drinking Water Treatment, Water Distribution/Field Services, Water Reclamation Treatment, Wastewater Collection/Field Services and Stormwater. 

The utility serves a population of approximately 35,000 located in adjacent to the City of Valparaiso.