These days, it's difficult to have a conversation about water or wastewater without broaching the subject of aging infrastructure. Identifying it, fixing it, and paying for it are at the forefront of our minds and, as evidenced in Black & Veatch's fourth annual Strategic Directions report, it is once again the number one challenge facing water and wastewater utilities.
Over the past four years, the report has emerged as a way to benchmark the challenges -- and opportunities -- in the water industry in the United States. And while some things may have changed from year to year, concern about aging infrastructure has not.
"We still haven't been able to get on top of that," said Cindy Wallis-Lage, president of Black & Veatch's water business. "But not too far behind that is the financing element: how are we going to manage operation costs and how do we have the capital to invest," she added.
In fact, this is a major initiative for the American Water Works Association, according to President Elect Gene Koontz. Last year, AWWA was instrumental in getting a WIFIA pilot program passed through Congress. WIFIA -- the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority -- is designed to help municipalities secure low-interest federal loans to partially finance major water and wastewater infrastructure projects. "It's a major new source of funding for us to supplement our State Revolving Funds," said Koontz. "Now we're working on trying to get some technical corrections to it that will allow it to be fully used." Low interest loans to augment money received from rates is "key to being able to afford to replace our infrastructure at the rate it needs to be replaced," Koontz added.
In addition to funding, both Koontz and Wallis-Lage agreed that a strong asset management program is crucial for coping with aging infrastructure. "We have limited funds and we have a lot to do," said Koontz. "What we need to do is figure out what needs to be done first."
"If we can get focused on asset management," said Wallis-Lage, "we'll see a lot of improvements in our long-term sustainability."
Aclara CEO Alan Connolly believes advanced metering plays a leading role. "With a finite, constrained investment, I think metering and metering infrastructure really can play a big part in making sure that what is spent is spent well." It provides a nice data point, he added, but it's much more than that. "A lot of utilities have made the investment [in metering], they've put the infrastructure in place," he said. "But the next step is adding to it: direct leak detection, pressure monitoring, flow monitoring -- really using that infrastructure to get as much information about the network as possible."
If you know what your assets are, and what condition they're in, you can plan better for the unexpected. "It's much more cost-effective than if it's an emergency," said Wallis-Lage. "If we know what our systems are, then we can target that investment and we can do it in a much more palatable way."
Editor's Note: To download Black & Veatch's Strategic Directions report, visit bv.com/reports. And to watch the full video interviews with Gene Koontz, Cindy Wallis-Lage, and Alan Connolly conducted at AWWA's ACE 2015, please visit waterworld.com/video/video-interviews.
Angela Godwin
Chief Editor, WaterWorld
