Understanding the impact of three core elements of water systems management – fragmented information, rate setting, and resource disparities – provides insight into how water system managers make decisions, particularly as it pertains to the financial management and operations of municipal water and wastewater systems. This paper aims to highlight the challenges that water systems face while making these decisions, while providing recommendations for how to improve communication and collaboration among water system managers, community residents, technical assistance providers, utility managers, and the relevant government representatives, resulting in the improved delivery of utility services.
Water issues are often a microcosm for general public infrastructure failure in the United States that disproportionately affects small, low-income communities, especially rural communities and communities of color. In contrast to most European countries, public infrastructure funding opportunities in the US are concentrated in local and state economies, exacerbating existing financial issues communities face and widening the infrastructure funding gap between higher- and lower-income communities, with a disproportionate impact on small, rural communities and communities of color.
Key Takeaways
Key takeaways from each of the three components of water systems management decisions discussed in this report are as follows:
- Fragmented Information, or disparities in essential information among those who work in the water sector, can be a barrier to collaborative solutions to water challenges. Fragmented information has also been exacerbated by additional capacity requirements from changing public health regulations and related health-based water quality violations since the 1980s.
- Rate Setting practices, or the practices of pricing water, have historically failed to reflect the total cost of water, and regionalization can be a pathway toward long-term affordability.
- Resource Disparities, or discrepancies in availability and access to resources, impact water systems decisions at the individual level and the system level, providing challenges to build equitable sustainable solutions and barriers to financing.
This report is primarily concerned with drinking water systems, although much of the findings and discussion translate to wastewater systems as well.