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Don’t Think Aging Pipelines are a Real Problem? Think Again.

Here’s is an aerial photo of a home that has been engulfed by a sinkhole caused by a sewer pipe failure.  The cost of underground infrastructure failures is much higher than average people want to believe.  Sinkholes are one type of failure; water main breaks and other types (or, modes) of failure can have devastating [...]  (read full article)

Why Affordability is the New Challenge for Water and Sewer Utility Owners

It’s not that affordability hasn’t always been a concern, but a recent look at some important data now suggests that affordability has become a major concern for providers of water and sewer utility services in the US.  For the first time since the 1950′s, personal income in the United States has experienced negative annual growth [...]  (read full article)

Colorado’s Proposed Amendment 61: More Problem Than Solution

At last count (and still counting), the US Federal Budget deficit stands at $1.43 trillion, and the national debt is now $13.2 trillion.  Those are big dollars, but the US is a mighty economic engine even in these recessionary times.  Still, the national debt is now over 90% of the nation’s entire economic output for [...]  (read full article)

Are You Recovering Your Water and Sewer Utility’s Capital Costs?

In the water and sewer utility, costs tend to pile up quick and they are seemingly endless if not formidable.  As an industry, water and sewer utility services are among the most capital intensive anywhere.  There are very few industries in the world where one has to invest so much capital to produce even the [...]  (read full article)

How Customers Understand Utility Rates

I recently participated in a brief discussion about potential rate impacts in Gary, IN. The gist of the story is that Gary, IN is facing some very large capital costs to separate its sewer system into two parts: one for sanitary sewer needs, and the other for storm water drainage. Currently, like many older cities [...]  (read full article)

In Honor of Chips

I’ve had the great privilege to work as a consultant in the water utility industry for the last 15 years, all of which from offices in the Denver area. It would have been impossible for me to not have known who Chips Barry was, and I didn’t need to know him closely or personally to [...]  (read full article)

American Water Windfall During Recession

For many months we have tracked the activities of private water companies in America through their requests for – most large – rate increases. We have an entire category on this blog dedicated to these activities listed under “privitization” on the right sidebar; give it a click to get some of the astounding history behind [...]  (read full article)

Should Cities Sell Water & Sewer Utilities as Defense vs. Recession?

In these tough times, some cities and local governments are considering selling their water and sewer utilities to private concerns.  USA Today ran a story on this recently: “Cities consider selling water, sewer systems for cash“.  The issues raised in the USA Today story are interesting.  As noted on this blog, we’ve seen at least [...]  (read full article)

Illinois American Water Rates Under Fire

The Illinois American Water Co. (subsidiary of much larger American Water Works Co. – AWK) is seeing new scrutiny from the Illinois Commerce Commission on its proposal for 30% increases in water rates for many Chicago-area utilities that it operates.  The rate case has made its way to the ICC where Illinois Attorney General Lisa [...]  (read full article)

How Federal Deficits Will Impact Water and Wastewater Utilities

Eventually the piper must be paid.  For municipal governments, balancing the budget is these days a constant concern and budget cuts are starting to hit core services as the recession plods along.  In Washington, however, balanced budgets are not a concern, nor it seems is the staggering deficit that comes with massive spending programs that [...]  (read full article)