We’ve saved you a spot to network with colleagues, engage with thought-provoking speakers and get a compelling look into the minds of today’s most influential leaders in the water sector. Join us as we explore the emerging image of the ‘Utility of the Future’; the tools and approaches needed to further water quality gains; real-world economic hurdles to innovation; and, new efforts to craft more financially sustainable utility business models.

Innovations in Utility Management Showcased

The conference program will focus on transformational leadership and will showcase innovative work now underway at clean water agencies, as well as look ahead at how water quality protection and utility management will change in the coming months and years. Some of the featured topics include:

• Water Utility of the Future…the Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Inspirational – For Atlanta, the vision of water management in the future was crafted in 2003 when it formed the Department of Watershed Management with many of the same goals and aspirations that are now being used to describe the ‘Utility of the Future’. Implementing a vision for the future while managing and reacting to present-day challenges can be difficult. The practical realities that have confronted Atlanta as it works towards its vision of the future can provide valuable lessons as the industry discusses its continuing transformation.

• Innovations in Utility Management – As infrastructure moves from below ground tunnels to above ground streetscapes and green spaces, utilities are playing a larger role in broader urban renewal and community revitalization efforts, all of which come with new challenges and opportunities.

• Resilient Business Models for Water & Wastewater Utilities – The economic recession, reductions in water use, weather variability and other factors all characterize the “new normal” under which water and wastewater utilities now operate. An ongoing industry study is working to define a resilient business model for utilities founded on integrated financial and management practices, systems and processes adapted for this “new normal”.

• Case Studies on Utility Innovation and Project Management – including the City of Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters program; the Panama Canal expansion and its impact on global commerce, and much more!

2011 NACWA Financial Survey to be Released

A capstone of NACWA’s Summer Conference is the release of the triennial NACWA Financial Survey which will be showcased during the Utility Management Committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon and featured in the Wednesday session, Resilient Business Models for Water & Wastewater Utilities. Since 1981, the Financial Survey has provided public clean water agencies, government officials, and the public, insight into the financing and management of clean water utilities. Utility managers face a multitude of decisions on a daily basis that impact how revenues are raised and spent in the service of their communities. The Financial Survey provides a detailed look at how utilities are managing sometimes competing demands – including the need to reach higher treatment levels, rate affordability, minimizing chemical and electricity expenditures, repair and replacement of aging infrastructure, building future capacity, retaining high-quality staff – and highlights important trends in debt-service expenditures and long-term borrowing, for example, that provide a glimpse of potential challenges facing the clean water community in the future. Conference attendees will receive an advance copy of the Financial Survey Highlights document.

The Clean Water Community and Social Media to be a Focus

Among the keynote speakers at this year’s Summer Conference is best-selling author David Nour.  Nour’s talk, Return on Impact – Leadership Strategies for the Age of Connected Relationships, will set the stage for an exploration of the tools available in the social networking/social media environment to align organization goals and objectives with stakeholder values to drive quantifiable results – all part of the transformational change taking place throughout the clean water community.  NACWA’s own Engage™ network will be publicly launched – providing a value-added experience for members and significantly enhancing the Association’s effectiveness in the advocacy arena.  But don’t take our word for it – let David tell you himself!