With the recent revelations regarding lead poisoning in Flint, Mich., water customers are increasingly questioning the quality of the drinking water they receive from their local supplier.
By Jeff Lipton
With the recent revelations regarding lead poisoning in Flint, Mich., water customers are increasingly questioning the quality of the drinking water they receive from their local supplier. Water utilities throughout the country are scrambling to better communicate the extensive investments being made to ensure water quality and public health. While annual Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs) may meet federal requirements for customer communication on water quality, these reports are difficult to find and understand, and often lead to more questions than answers.
WaterSmart Software, a data analytics and customer engagement platform provider to the water industry, recently announced a new product to address these challenges and provide a better way for utilities to communicate with their customers. WaterSmart eQuality is a suite of communication tools that takes water quality testing data and puts it into terms that end-users can easily understand. Through multi-channel digital communications, quality information can quickly reach end-user customers over web, mobile, text, voice, and print to convey the comprehensive treatment and testing investments made by water suppliers.
Fig 1. WaterSmart eQuality - Water Quality Report
In addition, the platform specifically aids utilities in targeting the disadvantaged communities that are often the most affected by water quality issues. These customers are typically the most difficult to identify and reach since they are less likely to pay their own water bill and thus aren’t subject to billing or buck slip messages. WaterSmart eQuality customer segmentation reports and proactive, digital communication tools help reach these most-at-risk communities.
Municipal water utilities around the country are already using WaterSmart eQuality to communicate on a range of water quality topics, and to proactively address customer questions and concerns, reduce customer support costs, and build greater community trust.
Concerns regarding water quality won’t be going away and utilities that are proactive in communicating about how they are investing in public health will have a leg up when it comes to building stakeholder support for future infrastructure investments. WaterSmart eQuality is the first solution of it’s kind to support these critical communications to support the resilient water utility of the future.
About the Author: Jeff Lipton is the director of marketing for WaterSmart.com. Reach him at [email protected].
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