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2.6%
Other
5.1%
They protest every increase
regardless of the need
10.3%
They don't understand
but accept that increases
are a part of life
47.4%
They understand the "need",
but still want us to cut costs
(do more with less)
34.6%
They understand "need"
and accept that increases
are necessary
Source: 2017 Black & Veatch water survey respondents
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Over the past five years, how would you rate the level of understanding and acceptance from key stakeholders and the public about the “value of water” and proposed rate increases?
34.6%
They understand "need"
and accept that increases
are necessary
Even engaged customers, who may be actively working to reduce consumption in their own household and see others doing the same, ask why conservation efforts aren’t leading to more rate stability,
or even decreases.
Between treatment and tap, much of our water infrastructure is buried underground. For busy customers, that creates an
out-of-sight, out-of-mind disconnect — a problem
for utility leaders who must convince skeptical stakeholders to make costly upgrades.
What's the incremental improvement
that this increase will bring to me?
When it comes to rate increases, what's in it for me?
The Result
The public and city council approved five years
of increase, totaling more than 110 percent. Staff committed to annual accountability reports to the city council on progress, fulfilling the capital improvement plan as promised and improving finances to the point that the utility could enter
the bond market and get competitive rates.
• Teams of consultants and staff presenting together.
• Clear proof of the improvements they would get for their dollar and the measures of success.
• Messages using everyday language and everyday examples.
• Extensive public meetings (more than 15) to hear the public’s concerns and answer questions in town-hall formats.
To get the utility back on stable financial footing, Black & Veatch worked with city staff to develop
a plan that accomplished the following things:
So, are you ready to start?
Download the 2017 Strategic Directions: Water Industry Report.
Data technology should be part of an integrated planning process. More than half of our survey respondents are prioritizing asset management as an area of interest for the use of data. About a third say they want to incorporate data into their strategies.
Source: 2017 Black & Veatch water survey respondents
What operational areas do you feel that data analytics and automated monitoring will help improve most at your organization?
Monitoring performance
Asset maintenance
Improving/maintaining service reliability
Treatment operations
Water distribution
Identifying losses
57.1%
53.2%
46.8%
42.9%
35.1%
33.8%
Our report includes
case studies demonstrating how utilities are saving money, improving water quality and gaining the upper hand on predicting asset failure.
But if you think you
can’t afford a data analytics solution,
it’s time to flip
the question:
Can you afford
NOT to?
That kind of decision-making is critical
to long-term planning and investments. Knowing the expected life of an asset, then replacing or maintaining it BEFORE a break is the difference between reactive repair and proactive planning.
These data are collected across systems and dashboards for easy, one-stop access: The pump’s operation can be optimized, and operators can manage it better by doing the right amount of maintenance, at the right time.
What can dashboarded data tell us about asset health? Take, for example, data’s direct connection to equipment runtime. Many years ago,a pump simply indicated whether it was on or off. Now we can know its speed, efficiency, vibration, temperature and more.
Working to Solve the Data Challenge
Water providers are in a tight
spot — customers demand safety. Efficiency. Reliability. But nearly half of report survey respondents said customers still want them to do more with less — a classic struggle for utilities already working with tight revenue streams.
Think you can't afford it?
39%
of utilities said data figured
into their processes, but not
in operational activities
Seeing the Big Picture,
Then Acting On It
The industry has taken steps toward harnessing data inside and outside the plant fence. But our report finds too many providers are sitting out data’s impact on their systems.
Unfortunately, data-producing instruments are too often siloed — or buried and out of sight like much of the infrastructure itself. The result is data that is kept captive within buckets. That’s where next-generation dashboards, such as Black & Veatch’s ASSET360 system, overcome these silos by capturing, uniting, analyzing and displaying these data in ways that demystify our systems.
Along the water treatment and delivery
chain, data has long been an important tool for providers. Since being introduced decades ago, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) devices have gathered valuable information, providing a way to measure such things as flow statistics or dissolved oxygen.
But what about data’s role behind the plant fence?
Capitalizing on
Data Analytics
Payments That Are Due
Water Quality Alerts
Water Conservation Tips
Potential Leaks
High Usage
When utilities place customers at the center of everything they do, they succeed — and data plays a big role in serving the customer.
Meet the Consumer
Where They Are
These are best practices that not only foster a positive customer experience but also support the utility’s conservation efforts by educating customers on best practices and increasing their awareness of the value of water.
Water utilities can enhance customer care by providing timely notifications on various aspects such as:
find out what happened
The public and city council approved five years of increase, totaling more than 110 percent. Staff committed to annual accountability reports to the city council on progress, fulfilling the capital improvement plan as promised and improving finances to the point that the utility could enter the bond market and get competitive rates.
In California, population growth challenged one of our clients. Water user fees had remained flat for more than five years and infrastructure struggled. Despite waning reserves, rate increases were not viewed as a solution.
Improving California’s
Water Infrastructure
Why Isn't Water Cheap?
A safe and plentiful water supply is expensive. Treating and moving water incurs significant energy costs. Infrastructure is expensive and will eventually fail and need replacement. Addressing these challenges typically requires raising base or fixed charges.
Customer
Engagement
These age-old conflicts require new ways of seeing and using information. And just as important, using information that’s already speeding across our systems — yet waiting
to be set free.
Much of our water infrastructure is aging well beyond its anticipated lifespan, challenging the resilience and reliability of our supply. Customers, meanwhile, want their water providers to do more with less and often don’t understand the true cost of water delivery.
Better communication is crucial to a safe and abundant supply of water.
