Customer engagement will play a significant role in bridging the gap between costs and customer expectation. Communicating the need for rate increases and securing the public’s acknowledgment of their importance—and thus securing requests—will be one of the biggest challenges facing many utilities this year.
Ann Bui, Managing Director for water services in Black & Veatch management consulting, describes how utility leaders are taking advantage of opportunities to further educate end users about how their services benefit the community.
Water is absolutely vital to the beverage industry
Blog
Water is absolutely vital to the beverage industry. Beverage companies not only rely on water as an essential ingredient, but also as a primary resource for growing agricultural ingredients. As a result, protecting this critical resource is a business imperative—not to mention the right thing to do.
Every utility aspires to achieve business and service excellence. Utilities often define their best-in-class water management goals from their current operational performance and where they strive to be in the future.
Cindy Wallis-Lage, President of Black & Veatch’s water business, discusses the importance of industry collaboration for more sustainable water systems. Adapting to climate change, exploring integrated planning and engaging with ratepayers are just some of the ways water leaders are evolving in their "new normal."
The rural communities of Ceará, Brazil, had long been accustomed to drought and the problems that result: food insecurity, death of livestock, and conflict over scarce water resources. While Ceara’s problems may have been typical of a water scarce region in the developing world, the work of the Columbia Water Center and PepsiCo Foundation has ensured that the approach to these problems is anything but.
A quick look at our nation’s philanthropic, industrial and government landscapes reveals dozens of inventive – but separate – initiatives designed to enhance water sustainability and address the clean water crisis in developing countries. But imagine if we were somehow able to distill these efforts into a cohesive approach that would identify and capitalize even a small percentage of the synergies among them.
While NGOs and foundations, the private sector, and governments are all working diligently, imagine the impact they could create working in concert.
