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The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), in a collaborative effort with the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), is pleased to provide its members with the Water Resources Utility of the Future . . . Blueprint for Action .

Background

Work on this document began in earnest in September 2012 and has been shepherded along by the strong efforts of a joint Steering Committee made up of three representatives from each of the three organizations as well as by a diverse Task Force of 49 experts representing a broad cross-section from the three organizations’ memberships. The Steering Committee ensured the Blueprint remained both targeted and comprehensive while the Task Force provided data, input, editing and insight throughout the drafting process. A special thank you is owed to Tom Sigmund of NEW Water in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Chair of the Utility of the Future (UOTF) Task Force and to NACWA President Suzanne Goss with JEA (electric, water & sewer), Jacksonville, Florida, who represented NACWA on the Steering Committee.

This Blueprint, which was supported via contributions to NACWA’s Targeted Action Fund (TAF), was placed on a fast-track for finalization to ensure that Utility of the Future (UOTF) issues are front and center as the 113th Congress and incoming Administration develop their environmental priorities. The audience for this Blueprint, however, is broader than just federal policymakers and includes local utility managers, private sector interests, state and local governments, technology providers, and many others within the clean water, drinking water, energy and agricultural communities.

This project was advanced because a group of industry leaders arrived at a shared realization that the challenges (and opportunities) faced by wastewater agencies are unprecedented and that some of the paradigms that have been in place for decades are changing to meet these challenges. This Blueprint underscores the need for the clean water sector to work together to shape the landscape of clean water going forward. It also highlights the type of collaboration that is needed to ensure a sustainable future that minimizes waste, maximizes resources, protects the ratepayer, improves the community, and embraces innovation in an unprecedented manner.

NACWA/WEF/WERF . . . Next Steps

The three organizations have different missions and strengths - these include advocacy, technical input, outreach/communications, scientific research, data collection and media relations. Each organization will cull from this document to determine which particular UOTF priorities to advance. Wherever possible, however, the three organizations will work together to advance shared objectives and will seek to encourage the array of organizations that make up the clean water sector to review this document closely and work to advance the UOTF objectives outlined in the Blueprint as well.

NACWA’s next steps will be to cull from this document a prioritized and aggressive UOTF advocacy agenda that can be advanced by working with key partners as appropriate. The Blueprint offers scores of recommendations to remove barriers to, and incentivize activity that enhances, UOTF initiatives. Such actions range in scope from developing grant programs targeted at innovative reuse, energy and green infrastructure technology development, to the creation of a Congressional Caucus focused on UOTF initiatives. The document also explores the need for further action to incentivize green infrastructure approaches as well as the need for a national resiliency program similar to what was created in the Hurricane Sandy bill that passed Congress recently.

There was also a broad consensus as well that the UOTF vision could not be fully accomplished without starting to talk seriously about a 21st Century Watershed Act to provide the type of flexibility needed to address multi-media pollution sources and competing regulatory demands. It is critical, however, to read through the entire document to get the full flavor of the recommended actions, which are not only advocacy-based but also seek next steps in the areas of research, outreach, education and utility management.

The Blueprint is also intended to be a “living document” in the sense that this is the first – rather than the last – word on the UOTF issue. New ideas under the UOTF umbrella will continue to arise and others may well be discarded. This document represents an opening salvo in the effort to define and tie together a diverse realm of resource recovery activities and innovative approaches, many of which were never contemplated, and likely could never have been foreseen, 40 years ago when the Clean Water Act was enacted.

The joint Steering Committee and Task Force that did the hard work to make this Blueprint possible constitutes a model that is now in place not only for further joint efforts under the UOTF banner but potentially for other efforts that can advance the clean water sector’s lofty objectives. All three organizations will also be broadly distributing the document to their members and using it as a focus for discussion at their meetings and conferences. In line with this, the Blueprint and UOTF issues more broadly are the focus next week at NACWA’s Winter Conference in Miami.

NACWA will also be developing a UOTF tri-fold that clearly outlines its advocacy agenda culling the top priorities for the organization from this broader Blueprint. NACWA plans to have this document finalized by the end of February with the goal of using it to encourage Congress, the White House, key federal agencies, and other stakeholders to move the UOTF ball forward.

If you have any question regarding the UOTF effort, please contact Adam Krantz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at 202/833-4651.