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A Clear Commitment to America’s Waters
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ACWA, the Water Environment Research Foundation
(WERF), and the Water Environment Federation (WEF)
have begun work on a collaborative initiative to develop
a
Blueprint for Action
focused on the
Water Resources Utility
of the Future
(UOTF). The Blueprint will define relevant issues, re-
search and analyze key data, and offer recommendations for critical
future actions. It will educate and inform – as well
as provide a path forward for research-based advo-
cacy to remove barriers and provide incentives for
UOTF approaches and initiatives.
K
ey Issues Identified Through NACWA Survey
Electricity generation through methane recovery,
solar photovoltaics, or wind turbines; recovery and
reuse of waste heat; recovery of commercially valuable materials
from both liquid and biosolids streams; reuse of wastewater for
cooling, recharge, landscape irrigation; green infrastructure; and
product stewardship and pretreatment initiatives are among the is-
sues identified as relevant in a recent survey of NACWA member and
nonmember public clean water utilities. The
Blueprint
will examine
many of these issues and clearly assert that decisions about whether
or not to engage in these activities are entirely based on local, site-
specific considerations.
The three collaborating organizations have convened a Steering
Committee to provide high-level project oversight. The Steering
Committee met via conference call on September 17, underscoring
the timeliness of this effort and also agreeing to a list of recom-
mended members for a Task Force to provide technical input into,
and review of, the
Blueprint for Action
. The Task Force candidates in-
clude leading experts from an array of backgrounds,
including the public sector, academia, consulting/
engineering firms, and technology developers and
manufacturers. Tom Sigmund, NACWA Utility
Management Committee Chair, with the Green
Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, and NACWA
President Suzanne Goss, with Jacksonville JEA, are
the Association’s member representatives on the
Steering Committee. Sigmund also serves as chair of the Task Force.
Plans call for the
Blueprint for Action
to be completed by January 2013.
The
Blueprint
is anticipated to be both valuable and informative in
post-election outreach to the Administration, Members of Congress,
states, and other key stakeholders. NACWA’s
Targeted Action Fund
(TAF) provides the Association’s funding for the
Blueprint
.
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NACWA, WEF, WERF Join Forces on
Utility of the Future Blueprint for Action
R
epresentatives from the major water sector organiza-
tions, including NACWA, the American Public Works
Association (APWA), the Association of Metropolitan
Water Agencies (AMWA), and the Water Environment
Federation (WEF), along with state water regulators and infrastruc-
ture financing experts met with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) in September on water utility sustainability. The day
and a half-long meeting was organized by the Agency as a forum to
discuss ongoing sustainability efforts, identify any gaps in informa-
tion or resources, and consider potential next
steps for maintaining the current momentum
among water sector utilities on sustainability.
EPA has had an interest in sustainable utilities
for years and was a driving force behind the ef-
fort that led to the Effective Utility Management (EUM) attributes
and keys to management success, which were developed collabora-
tively by representatives from the six lead water sector organizations
in 2007. During the September 25-26 meeting, EPA reiterated that
its continued activity in this area is intended to provide information
on the benefits of sustainability, without a top-down federal push
for utilities to adopt these practices. NACWA Utility Management
Committee Chair, Tom Sigmund, of the Green Bay Metropolitan
Sewerage District and Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, of Clean Water
Services in Hillsboro, Ore., participated on behalf of the Association
– engaging in discussions focused on the continuum of sustainabil-
ity practices and what resources or information might be useful to
utility managers to help them move forward.
Conventional & Emergent Models Explored
Participants discussed the characteristics of two broad utility busi-
ness models – conventional and emergent – what sustainability
practices are most likely associated with each model, and what steps
are needed to move from the conventional to the
emergent model. Utility representatives stressed
that a move to the more sustainable emergent model
will be difficult for many still working to optimize
their current practices – and that the limitations of
smaller utilities must be recognized and addressed.
With compliance 100 percent of the time as a top priority, utility
managers may avoid the risk associated with new technologies or ap-
proaches; however, to achieve real progress along the sustainability
continuum, a new, shared-risk approach that rewards rather than
penalizes innovation and risk, may be needed. EPA plans to develop
a summary of the discussions during the meeting and may schedule
a follow-up discussion with the participants to further refine the
notes and discuss next steps.
Water Sector Representatives Talk Sustainability with EPA