Abstract
Despite pressures to increase performance and decrease costs, innovation has been slow to emerge in the municipal wastewater sector. The relationship between regulation and innovation in this sector is a particularly interesting aspect of this conundrum, given the degree to which public utility decision-making is influenced by regulation. Using a national survey, this paper examines US wastewater utility managers’ perceptions of how regulation influences the adoption of new technologies. Recognizing that the relationship between innovation and regulation is complex, we develop the concept of regulation as multifaceted and examine three interrelated aspects of regulation: (1) regulatory requirements, (2) regulators and relationships, and (3) the broader regulatory environment. Specifically, we seek to understand whether and in what ways wastewater utility managers perceive these aspects of regulation as hindering or encouraging the adoption of new technologies. We find that, although stringent effluent limitations are perceived to be a moderate barrier to innovation, most survey respondents did not identify weakening them as a way to encourage innovation. Instead, respondents generally identified factors related to regulatory relationships and factors related to the broader regulatory environment as barriers to innovation, and indicated that addressing these aspects of regulation would encourage innovation. We conclude that loosening or tightening regulatory requirements is not the most effective way to promote innovation in the municipal wastewater sector. Rather, those parties with an interest in innovation can focus on helping utilities and regulators build relationships and better navigate the processes that influence decisions about new technologies.
Highlights
Growing urban populations, aging infrastructure, and increasing pressure on government budgets at all levels are straining the capacity of urban wastewater treatment systems in the United States (ASCE, 2017; GAO, 2019; Hering et al, 2013; Kiewiet and McCubbins, 2014), and this strain is exacerbated by expectations of improvements in water quality and environmental stewardship (Daigger, 2009; Reeves and Littlehat, 2011; Vidal-Dorsch et al, 2012)
We focus on understanding the interactions between regulation and innovation in the municipal wastewater sector through a survey of wastewater utility managers
We find that the regulatory barriers and potential solutions identified by wastewater utility man agers tend to emphasize the relational aspects of regulation and the regulatory environment, and that utility managers place less emphasis on specific regulatory requirements
Summary
Growing urban populations, aging infrastructure, and increasing pressure on government budgets at all levels are straining the capacity of urban wastewater treatment systems in the United States (ASCE, 2017; GAO, 2019; Hering et al, 2013; Kiewiet and McCubbins, 2014), and this strain is exacerbated by expectations of improvements in water quality and environmental stewardship (Daigger, 2009; Reeves and Littlehat, 2011; Vidal-Dorsch et al, 2012). While inno vation in other sectors, including computing, energy, and biotech nology, has dramatically accelerated during the last two decades (Schwab, 2017), technological change in the wastewater sector has been slow (Ajami et al, 2014) This “crisis of innovation” (Thomas and Ford, 2005) is concerning given that key pieces of US environ mental law, including the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) and its associ ated regulations, were intended to encourage the adoption of new technologies as a means toward the goal of improved environmental quality (Eisner, 2007; Gerard and Lave, 2005). We find that the regulatory barriers and potential solutions identified by wastewater utility man agers tend to emphasize the relational aspects of regulation and the regulatory environment, and that utility managers place less emphasis on specific regulatory requirements
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