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NACWA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), and WateReuse, will release the first Utility of the Future (UOTF) Annual Report in July at NACWA’s Summer Conference in Providence, RI, to highlight the progress in the UOTF arena over the past couple of years. The report will focus on the developments in key segments of the water sector: public utilities, water technology, engineering, finance, professional organizations, and state and local governments.

NACWA’s Utility & Resource Management Committee Co-Chairs, Tom Sigmund, Executive Director of NEW Water, and Logan Olds, General Manager of Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority, along with NACWA’s Industry of the Future Workgroup Chair, Andy Kricun, Executive Director of Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, are leading this effort to bring renewed attention to the UOTF initiative and to ensure that information is being shared among utilities of all sizes.

As the groups work on the Annual Report, NACWA — via this Advocacy Alert — is urging its members and fellow organizations to reread the groundbreaking 2013 Water Resources Utility of the Future Blueprint . This document provides the background on what the UOTF is - and is not - and reviewing it will serve to rekindle the conversation among utilities of all sizes about embracing the innovative best practices that it highlights while also providing some background on how far the sector has come.

NACWA’s Role in the UOTF Campaign

NACWA has continuously worked to advance the UOTF agenda since the release of the Blueprint. To highlight the business case of the UOTF initiative and the strong investment opportunities in clean water, the Association published a white paper entitled Today’s Clean Water Utility: Delivering Value to Ratepayers, Communities, & the Nation . The Water Resources Utility of the Future: A Call for Federal Action trifold was created to concisely communicate these UOTF principles to policymakers in order to advance clear advocacy goals. These efforts have led to numerous policy changes, including ensuring broader Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) grant-equivalent funding eligibilities for UOTF activities, including green infrastructure, energy conservation and production, water reuse and recycling, and resource recovery more broadly.

EPA Advances UOTF-style Sustainability

The UOTF initiative also complements the growing national trend toward environmental sustainability and resilience in the water sector. EPA’s Moving Toward Sustainability is one such initiative that aims to promote sustainable practices to ensure a clean and safe water supply. The initiative calls for utilities to move towards more sustainable operations by creating an effective utility management roadmap of proven and effective practices. EPA recently released its Moving Toward Sustainability: Sustainable and Effective Practices for Creating Your Water Utility Roadmap  guide to help utilities in this process and serves as a complement to the UOTF work. NACWA and its members have been working closely with EPA to increase collaboration and communication to the broadest possible audiences on these issues.

Utilities of All Sizes Can Benefit

The converging and increasing needs for innovation, cost-effectiveness, environmental gains, and climate resilience make the UOTF a natural next step for the clean water sector. Each utility – whether large, medium or small — can determine the appropriate UOTF-type approaches that meet their unique, site-specific needs. Each step taken advances the entire sector and NACWA is ready to make sure that any utility of any size can become part of our UOTF network and receive assistance or guidance from other member agencies who stand ready and able to help.

NACWA will reach out to federal agencies, municipal organizations, state and regional groups, small utility organizations and the full range of water, agricultural, and energy sector associations to ensure the widest possible distribution of the UOTF documents. The goal of the UOTF initiative is to guarantee that best practices are being shared among utilities of all sizes to benefit all communities, urban and rural, large or small.

If you have any questions on these issues, please contact Adam Krantz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .