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Coverage from Rocky Mtn. AWWA/WEA Conference

September 14, 2009

This blog post will be updated periodically as we are attending the Rocky Mountain Sections of AWWA and WEA’s annual conference in Albuquerque, NM.  We will be providing some insights and notes from the proceedings.

Opening Session

The opening session featured commentary from Albuquerque Mayor, Martin Chavez.  While his comments were brief, they were very much on point.  In commenting about the importance of water, he said that “water is the No. 1 issue.”  He said the issues surrounding water were bigger than health care, and bigger than other hot topics that grab the headlines.   We couldn’t agree more.  Especially in arid states like New Mexico, the lack of water resources to serve growing populations makes water one of the largest economic issues if not THE largest economic issue.

Mayor Chavez told the crowd of about 200 that even though water is incredibly important, it is never an issue that will get anyone elected but is definitely an issue that if left unattended will get one fired from public office.  This is an excellent point that all elected officials should keep in mind.  Constituents are generally “tuned out” with water issues unless something goes wrong.  If water or sewer services fail, you can bet that customers will be immediately angry.  It’s also true that many times the way that customers determine that something is “wrong” with the services is when they see large increases to their monthly bills.  Both “failures” deserve attention and both can, as Mayor Chavez puts it, get you fired from public office. (side note: StepWise will be speaking to the topic of political risk in water and sewer utility governance during a half-day seminar next week at the Special Districts Association of Colorado‘s annual conference in Keystone, CO; we hope to see you there).

Workshops

I attended just one of the many technical sessions, this one on the topic of master planning.  I was surprised earlier in the week when I was asked to co-present at this session.  It was a presentation that I had prepared much earlier (about two years ago) for another firm I was working with at the time.  The presentation is entitled “Master Planning +”  with the “+” meant to accentuate the fact that the idea of the presentation is to introduce a new concept for traditional master planning that would include additional planning elements.  Under Master Planning + utilities would focus not only on new assets needed to keep pace with growth, but also renewals & replacements, operations, staffing, and financial planning.  In this way, the utility uses the master planning process that they are already familiar with to engage in more strategic planning focused on meeting levels of service, community values, and matching economic resources to the long-term vision.

During the workshop, we saw at least one excellent example where one utility, the City of Santa Fe, NM, has taken a bold step toward the Master Planning + concept.  The bottom line from the session was that utilities stand to save millions over the long-term by perpetuating a more strategic approach to planning.

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