Economic pressures of water industry addressed

A white paper developed from a Water Environment Federation (WEF) workshop last year has been launched in Los Angeles.

Black & Veatch has provided six key recommendations for overcoming economic pressures in the water industry during the WEFTEC 2011 event. The recommendations are contained in a just-released white paper by Dan McCarthy, President and CEO of Black & Veatch’s global water business.

The recommendations come from Black & Veatch’s Water Dialogue series which was launched at WEFTEC last year. The high-level roundtable discussions with about 90 water industry thought leaders were held during six global conferences. Included in the findings from the dialogues are actions and processes to help water industry leaders manage current economic pressures.

“Increasing water infrastructure investments will provide much needed jobs and avert looming disasters in the process,” said McCarthy. “While roads, bridges and rail are important investments, the most vital infrastructure is the delivery and treatment of water. In many places future water resources are underfunded or not funded at all.”

Six key recommendations emerged from discussions during the various venues. Participants in the dialogues said that in order to adapt and lead in these difficult economic times, water utility and other industry leaders should:

• Find new business opportunities or revenue streams and then, once identified, put them into play
• Determine the best source or mix of new and established financing options
• Facilitate innovation to deal with the ‘new norm’ and to discover the next big idea
• Collaborate more closely with all stakeholders and create ‘one voice’ for water
• Reach out to educate the public about water issues
• Optimise assets to control costs

“Economic pressures have challenged all of us to think differently and develop new strategies,” McCarthy said. “With the current level of funding for municipal water systems it calls for a ‘new deal’ type of arrangement - a combination of investors unlike any other approach tried before. History is no longer the guiding light for managing this precious resource.”

Links to the white paper, other background materials and published articles about each individual roundtable discussion are also available on Black & Veatch’s thought-leadership microsite. A link to ongoing activities is available at WEFTEC 2011.