Walnut Creek Public Services Department

Public works is a combination of physical assets, management practices, policies and personnel necessary for the government to provide and maintain the structures and services that are essential to the welfare and acceptable quality of life of its citizens. 

About Public Works

Public works are a broad category of government-funded and built infrastructure projects for recreation, employment and health and safety uses in the wider community. They include public buildings (municipal buildings, schools, hospitals), transport infrastructure (roads, railroads, bridges, canals, ports, airports), public spaces (public squares, parks, beaches), public services (water supply and treatment, sewage treatment, electrical grids, dams) and other, usually long-term, physical assets and facilities. 

Although often interchangeable with public infrastructure and public capital, public works do not necessarily have an economic component, making it a broader term. Public works is a multi-dimensional concept in economics and politics, touching on multiple arenas, including: recreation (parks, beaches), aesthetics (trees, green space), economics (goods and people’s movements, energy), law (police and courts) and neighborhood (community centers, social services buildings). Essentially, it represents any built object that increases the physical infrastructure of a nation.

What They Provide

The Public Works Department provides a wide range of services that improve the quality of community life in Walnut Creek, including: engineering services, park and open space maintenance, public facilities and buildings, road and drainage signals, vehicles and equipment, parking garages and meters, and the Clean Water program.

The mission of the Public Works Department is to design, construct, operate and maintain public infrastructure efficiently and effectively, with a view to protecting public safety and improving the quality of community life. The Department achieves these objectives through the work of Engineering Services, which provides general supervision of the Capital Investment Program, Development Engineering and Traffic Engineering.

Programs

Parks Services and the Open Space Division maintain public parks and open space lands in Walnut Creek. It has more than 2,700 acres of open space, more than 100 miles of hiking and horseback riding trails, and 22 public parks. Maintenance Services Division manages road and drainage infrastructure, public buildings and facilities, maintenance of vehicles and equipment and the Traffic Operations Centre. Clean Water Program is a comprehensive program of activities designed to reduce stormwater pollution to the maximum extent practicable and to eliminate non-stormwater discharges.