More Than Fifty Years of Specialized Municipal Water Experience
ACVA opened its doors in 1973 and has been serving the region's water and wastewater utilities ever since. That kind of longevity matters in municipal water work because the systems themselves last for decades. Plant operators routinely deal with valves that were installed before they were born, alongside brand new SCADA-integrated automated assemblies. ACVA's engineers have lived through every generation of that infrastructure. They know which resilient seated butterfly valves perform best in raw water service, which plug valves hold up in sludge applications, and which air release valves keep a distribution main from cavitating. That institutional memory cannot be replicated by a national catalog supplier or a recently formed distributor.
The Hoitt family's continued leadership of the company adds another layer of continuity. Customers who called ACVA twenty years ago often find themselves working with the same people, or the next generation trained by them. In an industry where turnover at large distributors is constant, that stability translates directly into better recommendations and fewer mistakes.
A True In-House Valve Automation Center
Most valve distributors sell a product and hand the customer off to someone else when automation, modification, or assembly is needed. ACVA built its business around a different model. Its Valve Automation Center handles design, fabrication, machining, assembly, and testing of automated valve packages entirely under one roof. That includes quarter-turn and multi-turn actuated valves of virtually any size — from small pneumatic ball valves used in chemical feed systems to large butterfly and gate valves that control flow through municipal pipelines.
The practical impact for water utilities is significant. When a treatment plant needs a complete, tested, calibrated, and documented valve-actuator assembly, ACVA ships it ready to install. There are fewer handoffs, tighter quality control, and meaningfully faster turnaround than a typical regional distributor can offer. In-house machining capability also means custom brackets, mounting kits, and modifications do not require a third party, which keeps project schedules predictable.
Deep Bench of Premier Manufacturer Partners
A distributor is only as strong as the lines it represents, and ACVA represents many of the most respected names in the municipal water industry. The company's portfolio includes Val-Matic, OCV Fluid Solutions, Emerson Bettis actuators, Crane Centerline butterfly and Duo-Chek check valves, Saunders diaphragm valves, ASCO solenoid valves, Apollo, XOMOX, EIM, EL-O-MATIC, Westlock, Fairchild, Dwyer, AMETEK, Tel-Tru, and Valmet Flowrox, among others. For a municipal engineer or public works director specifying a project, this matters because the right valve for a given application is rarely the only valve a vendor happens to stock. ACVA's breadth allows genuine consultative recommendations rather than steering customers toward whatever is on the shelf.
Engineering, Training, and 24/7 Emergency Service
Selling components is the easy part. Supporting them is where most distributors fall short and where ACVA distinguishes itself. The company employs factory-trained service technicians who handle field service, commissioning, and troubleshooting throughout the region. Training programs help operators and maintenance teams get more life out of their installed base, and engineering support is available during design, procurement, and after installation.
Water treatment never stops, and neither do failures. ACVA backs its installed base with genuine 24/7 emergency service — not a call center logging tickets, but actual technicians who know the equipment and often know the facility. For a plant manager facing a stuck inlet valve at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, that responsiveness is the entire point of using a regional specialist instead of an online catalog.
Regional Knowledge That Generic Suppliers Cannot Match
ACVA understands the Mid-Atlantic's specific operating realities: the regulatory environment in D.C., the climatic swings between the Shenandoah Valley and Tidewater, the procurement processes used by Virginia public utilities, and the budget constraints that shape every project. That local knowledge consistently produces better outcomes for municipalities than national vendors who treat every job as interchangeable.
The Bottom Line for Municipal Water Customers
For engineers, utility directors, and public works departments across Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., the case for Automatic Controls of Virginia comes down to four words: experience, capability, partnership, and accountability. A half century of municipal water specialization, a true in-house Valve Automation Center, the region's strongest manufacturer lineup, factory-trained service technicians, and around-the-clock emergency support combine to make ACVA the leading and most respected municipal water valve distributor in the region — and the obvious first call when the work has to be done right.
To learn more or discuss a project, contact ACVA at (804) 752-1000 or visit acva.com.
