Page 2 - Water Resources Utility of the Future: A Call For Federal Action

MOTIVATION ACTIVITY INNOVATION
Reduce Cost Energy Efficiency Energy Efficient Equipment & Networks
Energy Recovery Methane & Hydrogen Recovery, Heat Recovery
Operating Efficiency Automation and Smart Operations, Asset Management, Sourcing
Diversify Revenue Water Reuse Industrial Cooling, Recharge, Landscape, Golf Course Irrigation
Materials Recovery Phosphorous Compounds, Nitrogen Compounds, Metals
Materials Conversion Bioplastics, Pyrolysis Fuel Oil, Algal Biomass, Solid Fuels, Fertilizers
Biosolids Reuse Liquid Fertilizer
Energy Generation Photovoltaics, Wind Turbines
Support Community
& Economy
Growth Planning Sector Expansion, Targeted Upgrades, Managed Package Plants
Community Partnering Nonpoint Source Controls, Biowaste Conversion to Methane,
Green Infrastructure
Forty years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, public agency leaders are trans-
forming the way they deliver clean water services. At the heart of this transformation is
the emergence of new technologies and innovations that can stretch ratepayer dollars,
improve the environment, create jobs and stimulate the economy. The most progressive
of today’s clean water agencies are defining what is meant by the Water Resources Utility
of the Future (UOTF).
For decades terms like “sewage treatment” or “sew-
erage agencies” were used to describe our nation’s
wastewater treatment agencies, but these terms
are changing. These utilities are now being called
“clean water agencies,” “enterprises,” or “resource
recovery agencies”. What does this mean? Instead
of solely collecting and transporting wastewater to
central treatment plants, these utilities are recover-
ing valuable resources, partnering in local economic
development, and aligning themselves as members
of the watershed community in order to deliver
maximum environmental benefits at the least cost.
Today’s clean water utilities do this by reclaiming
and reusing water, extracting and finding com-
mercial uses for nutrients and other constituents in
the waste stream, capturing waste heat and latent
energy in biosolids and liquid streams, generating
renewable energy using their land and other hori-
zontal assets, and using green infrastructure to man-
age stormwater – all of which results in a profound
improvement to the quality of life.
These actions signal that the market for innovation
in the clean water sector is strong. Resistance to
change, however, is also significant, and is rein-
forced by several key trends: regulatory pressures;
strained utility/local, state and federal budgets; cus-
tomer confusion about the benefits of innovation;
skyrocketing demands for capital competing for
every dollar; risk and regret associated with technol-
ogy failure, and venture capital looking elsewhere
for faster and safer returns.
Nothing short of a national strategy to reform the
U.S. water sector is likely to drive the kind of change
that will be needed to fully address future challeng-
es and embrace new opportunities. This Call for
Federal Action defines tangible steps that we can
take as a nation to realize a shared vision for the
future. It presents ten priority actions that Congress
and the federal government can take to help the
Water Resources Utility of the Future become a
reality. We call on Congress, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of the Inte-
rior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. De-
partment of Energy, and other key federal agencies
to rethink their relationship to the water sector, take
these ten key actions, and make the UOTF possible
for all utilities.
This publication draws from the Water Resourc-
es Utility of the Future…A Blueprint for Action,
developed by the National Association of Clean
Water Agencies (NACWA), the Water Environ-
ment Research Foundation (WERF), and the
Water Environment Federation (WEF).
WHAT IS THE WATER RESOURCES
UTILITY OF THE FUTURE?