Municipal Water Utilities Research Articles

Enhancing Adaptive Capacity by Engaging and Empowering Frontline Workers: A Case Study From a Water Utility

AbstractWater utility crews, including those who perform system maintenance and operations at drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities, are experiencing the impacts of changing rainfall characteristics first‐hand. These frontline crews have relevant, experiential knowledge about changing climate‐related risks and adaptation needs that, to date, are not included in utilities' strategic climate planning or implementation efforts, resulting in critical knowledge systems and action gaps. In this co‐production case study with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), a municipal public water utility in Washington State, we use surveys and interviews to document barriers and opportunities for frontline crew engagement to enhance SPU's climate adaptation strategies to extreme rainfall. We find that 66% of crew workers perceive changes to rainfall intensity over the past decade and 59% report responding more to rainfall‐related issues. These frontline crews are coping with changes in extreme precipitation by increasing preventative maintenance, working overtime during major storm events, and doing more pre‐storm planning and preparation. Crews identified several aspects limiting their ability to respond to and prepare for extreme rainfall. To enhance their adaptive capacity, crews documented needs for infrastructure improvement, workforce facilities improvement, increased access to appropriate personal protective equipment, improved communication and coordination across the utility, and enhanced workforce capacity, including increased staff numbers. Findings suggest that for more effective, equitable, and responsive climate adaptation, water utilities should explicitly solicit and include crews' knowledge and lived experiences in adaptation planning while prioritizing strategies that enhance frontline crews' capacity and working conditions as a form of reciprocal action.

How low is too low? Partnering with stakeholders and managers to define ecologically based low‐flow thresholds in a perennial temperate river

AbstractManaging aquatic ecosystems for people and nature can be improved by collaboration among scientists, managers, decision‐makers, and other stakeholders. Many collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches have been developed to address the management of freshwater ecosystems; however, there are still barriers to overcome. We worked as part of a regional stakeholder group comprising municipal water utility operators, conservation organizations, academic partners, and other stakeholders to understand the effects of low‐flow and drought on ecological functions of the upper Flint River, Georgia (USA), a free‐flowing river important for municipal water supply, recreation, and native biota. We used published literature and locally targeted studies to identify quantitative flow targets that could be used to inform water management and drought planning. Drawing from principles of Translational Ecology, we relied on an iterative process to develop information needs for the group and maintained communication and engagement throughout data collection, analysis, and synthesis. We identified three quantitative flow benchmarks to evaluate the ecological impacts of drought in the river. The results were valuable to both the water utilities represented in the working group and State regional water planning, which is used to guide water management strategies and permitting for the basin. We identified principles that were important for the successful engagement in the working group and helped to overcome the challenge of working across sectors and without direct authority guiding the implementation of our work. Interdisciplinary work and creative solutions are crucial to plan for and adapt to greater pressure on our water resources.

Poverty induced artisanal mining impact on municipal water utilities; the case of kpapi river in Minna, Nigeria

That unemployment, poverty, artisanal mining, and community vulnerability are interwoven is re-emphasizing the reality of life. This study assesses the effect of artisanal mining activities on River Kpapi and the adjoining settlements in Minna putting into consideration Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG8). Observatory field survey was carried out on the entire river channel, and laboratory analysis of water samples taking to determine its hydro-chemical and Water Quality Index (WQI) characteristics using the silver nitrate method of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Water Quality Index (WQI) mathematical model. Questionnaires were also administered to the adjoining communities on river water usability. The result revealed that the hydro-chemical parameters heavy metals of Cd, Pb and Cr2+ with mean concentrations of 0.04 ​mg/l, 0.39 ​mg/l and 0.44 ​mg/l respectively are above WHO permissible limit. Also, the WQI varies from 2045.35 ​at middle course, 2709.89 ​at the upper course and 30.87.46 ​at the lower course is above the tolerance level for human consumption. The study, therefore, recommended that both the riparian and the solid mineral law should be under the state government to ease implementation and that the artisanal miners and that inclusive planning should be adhere to in all policy formation.

Assessing Climate Adaptation and Flood Security Using a Benchmark System: Some Swedish Water Utilities as Good Learning Examples

The 2020 Sustainability Index (SI), a benchmark system, shows that 2% of the 184 municipal water and wastewater utilities (WWS) in Sweden have a good performance level (green), i.e., they meet all benchmark requirements for the “climate adaptation and flood safety” (“CA and FS”). In this study, ten Swedish WWS organizations were selected and studied in depth. The goal was to present them as good learning examples to inspire other utilities seeking to improve their results and to clarify and concretize the driving factors, strategies, and important explanations for their success, and the challenges they face. A total of 52 SI annual documents from ten utilities were analyzed. Six of their managers were interviewed in depth. One of the ten utilities studied was green on the parameter “CA and FS”. Flooding events in two utilities drove climate adaptation. The formation of an interdisciplinary group in two organizations had a major impact on their success. Two utilities focused on low-lying sites and enclosed spaces. Three believed capacity building increased their chances of success. The biggest challenge was sharing responsibility. That only 2% of municipal water and wastewater utilities are green is not the whole truth. Therefore, there should be other factors in SI that measure performance in “CA and FS”. To improve the results, new laws are needed to solve the problem of shared responsibility.

Consumer perception and information in a model of household water usage: The case of jacksonville, FL

Consumption of bottled water in the U.S. continues to grow despite the higher user price and greater environmental cost relative to municipal tap water. Convenience is surely one reason for this trend, but it is less relevant for in-home consumption of bottled water. The existing literature highlights perceptions of quality, access to information and personal experience as important factors influencing water usage in the home. In this paper we report the results of a 2018 survey of water customers of Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA), the primary municipal water utility in Northeast Florida. The survey includes detailed questions regarding self-reported household water usage, information availability, information processing, trust in institutions and demographic characteristics. In addition, in cooperation with JEA, we matched the survey results with administrative data on geographic location within the system. Using a bivariate probit regression method, we estimate the determinants of water usage in the home. The results show that concern for drinking water safety is the principal contributor of bottled water consumption. Moreover, the evidence illustrates how information from water quality reports and objective measures of water hardness translate into the drinking water choice. We also show that greater transaction costs of bottled water due to low access to retail suppliers is associated with a substitution of water filtration for bottled water.

Sustainability disclosure and reporting by municipally owned water utilities

Municipally owned enterprises (MOEs) are showing interest in sustainability reporting. To understand how institutional pressures influence non-financial disclosures, we undertook a multiple case study involving three comparable municipal water utilities from different contexts and applied the institutional logics perspective. The comparative approach demonstrates how their sustainability reporting is slightly sensitive to national institutional settings. The findings reveal how the market, state, community, and professions logics drive MOE disclosures. The analysis also suggests that MOEs disclose their commitment to social and environmental responsibilities and promote collaboration. Finally, Carroll's pyramid reveals how MOEs disclose the most economical content.

Policy Note: Systems Thinking for More Holistic Analysis of Low- and Middle-Income Country Water Utility Problems and Solutions

Globally, billions of people rely on piped water and sanitation services delivered by municipal water utilities, but many of these systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are plagued by chronic problems of inequitable access, intermittent supply, and poor water quality. While improving service quality in these persistently underperforming systems will certainly require substantial infrastructure investment and supportive maintenance, a parallel strengthening of utilities and regulators’ capacity and management is at least as fundamental. And though prior research highlights the lack of capacity, misaligned incentives, and ineffective policies that lead LMIC utilities to perform so poorly, the identification of sustainable and replicable solutions to these problems, that extends beyond a small set of cases, has proven difficult. This paper argues for greater use of systems dynamics models to facilitate more holistic thinking about the potential of different intervention strategies, acknowledging that the behavior of utility-based water management systems is defined by complex interactions. This complexity plays out in reinforcing and balancing feedback between variables, lagged responses, and dynamics that often preclude moving past critical thresholds that define poverty or low performance traps. The paper then discusses how several basic archetypes relate to experiences of institutional reform failure and success described in the broader literature, with the goal of motivating future application of these methods for comparative analysis of different utility water system improvements.

Environmental Governance in Urban Watersheds: The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Mexico

Cities depend on several watersheds’ ecosystems as the main source of ecosystem services for urban populations; however, this connection is not visible to decision-makers and citizens. The current governance structures do not contemplate the integrated management of the urban-rural territory by watershed; they establish few spaces for citizen participation, and limit the transparency of information. We use qualitative methods to analyze the work of the Civil Society Organization (CSO) in seven urbanized watersheds in Mexico, located under different socio-environmental conditions, to incorporate the watershed cities’ management processes through new spaces of collaborative governance. Through environmental education campaigns, the CSOs raised awareness of the importance of watershed ecosystems to provide water for cities, explored the willingness to pay for their conservation, and the perception of the work of municipal water utilities. By promoting alliances between social sectors, the private sector, communities, and different levels of government, the CSOs built new institutions to increase the collaborative decisions and facilitate public participation, such as Watershed Committees, Citizen Observatories for Water and Consultative Councils. The incorporation of cities and citizens in the conservation of environmental services of the watershed was promoted through payment for environmental services programs. These processes of building new forms of governance are not linear. They depend on the convening and organizational capacity of the CSOs, the political will of the municipalities and states, as well as the socioeconomic conditions of citizens. In general, our results suggest that CSOs allow the formation of alliances that strengthen collaborations among stakeholders at different scales, increase government transparency and accountability, and provide a bridge of trust between upstream and downstream users in the watersheds.

Upstream pollution control by water utilities in Sweden: incentives and challenges

Abstract Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not designed to handle many harmful substances that are present in wastewater. The substances can also be transferred to the sewage sludge, which can make it unsuitable as a fertiliser. To alleviate these problems, Sweden has a practice called upstream work (uppströmsarbete) that aims to prevent harmful substances from entering the wastewater via efforts to control the pollution closer to the source. Upstream work has produced positive results in terms of reduced pollution in water and sludge and is seen as an important practice by both practicians and policymakers. In this paper, we investigate the incentives and challenges for upstream work as experienced by practitioners at municipal water utilities. The results show that there are two types of incentives: one related to practical problems and the other related to a perceived responsibility for the wastewater system and for the environment. The challenges were primarily related to an insufficient organisational structure for upstream work, manifested in unclear responsibilities, lack of prioritisation, and insufficient resources. The findings can be used to expand and initiate pollution control upstream of the WWTP as part of the urban water management, as well as decision support for policymakers.

A Sustainability Index within Water and Wastewater Management in Sweden: An Evaluation of Eight Case Studies

A sustainability index (SI) is a benchmark for guiding the activities of municipal water and wastewater (W and WS) utilities toward sustainability. The SI has been used in Sweden since 2014 as an internal benchmark management tool facilitating the strategic work of organizations. This study assesses how the SI was applied in practice by eight utilities (Orgs 1–8) from 2015 to 2019. The study was performed using in-depth semi-structured interviews with managers of the utilities and analyzing 32 SI reports and other documents. The utilities generally perform better in all parameters compared with the national average. Three utilities had improved results during the study period, while the other five had unchanged development. Five utilities use the SI index to improve their performance, and three use the SI results to grade the organization. All utilities are concerned with sustainability and wish to improve their performance. The study found that the parameter “Status of W and WS fixed facilities” was the furthest from sustainability. The study also clarifies that the technical committee has the primary responsibility to ensure that the technical office meets the sustainability objectives.

CSR Programs of Municipal Water Utility Companies for Wetland Communities of South Kalimantan

Many studies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are from private companies' perspective, analyzing social funds' effectiveness and efficiency. However, only a few studies explore CSR programs of municipal utility companies. The municipal utility company is unique because it has a captive market, and the Government regulates the company. These factors impact company's CSR strategy. The current research qualitatively analyzed the CSR of two municipal water utility companies. The Bandarmasih, located in the city of Banjarmasin, represents urban wetlands. The Intan Banjar, which service area includes Banjarbaru city and Banjar regency, represents rural wetlands. The analysis method was descriptive exploratory through observation, interviews, and focus group discussion (FGD). The results showed that the CSR programs had been sufficiently implemented but ineffective to fulfill the needs of the wetland community. The CSR programs were sporadic and did not strategically improve the companies' image. The CSR programs were not derived from the companies' vision and mission. There was no formulated social responsibility policy. This current research contributes to designing a 'signature' CSR program under its core business competencies for community welfare. This research is among the first to focus on municipal utility companies' CSR programs concerning communities in wetland areas.

How Perceptions of Trust, Risk, Tap Water Quality, and Salience Characterize Drinking Water Choices

Provision of safe drinking water by water utilities is challenged by disturbances to water quality that have become increasingly frequent due to global changes and anthropogenic impacts. Many water utilities are turning to adaptable and flexible strategies to allow for resilient management of drinking water supplies. The success of resilience-based management depends on, and is enabled by, positive relationships with the public. To understand how relationships between managers and communities spill over to in-home drinking water behavior, we examined the role of trust, risk perceptions, salience of drinking water, and water quality evaluations in the choice of in-home drinking water sources for a population in Roanoke Virginia. Using survey data, our study characterized patterns of in-home drinking water behavior and explored related perceptions to determine if residents’ perceptions of their water and the municipal water utility could be intuited from this behavior. We characterized drinking water behavior using a hierarchical cluster analysis and highlighted the importance of studying a range of drinking water patterns. Through analyses of variance, we found that people who drink more tap water have higher trust in their water managers, evaluate water quality more favorably, have lower risk perceptions, and pay less attention to changes in their tap water. Utility managers may gauge information about aspects of their relationships with communities by examining drinking water behavior, which can be used to inform their future interactions with the public, with the goal of increasing resilience and adaptability to external water supply threats.

CSR Programs of Municipal Water Utility Companies for Wetland Communities of South Kalimantan

Many studies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of private companies' social funds. Only a few studies on CSR programs of municipal utility companies. The municipal utility company is unique because it has a captive market, and the Government regulates the company. These factors impact company's CSR strategy. This study qualitatively analyzed the CSR of municipal water utility companies of Bandarmasih and Intan Banjar. The Bandarmasih, which is located in the city of Banjarmasin, represents urban wetlands. The Intan Banjar, which service area includes Banjarbaru city and Banjar regency, represents rural wetlands. The analysis method was descriptive exploratory through observation, interviews, and focus group discussion. The results showed that the CSR programs had been sufficiently implemented but ineffective to fulfill the wetland community's needs. The CSR programs were sporadic and did not strategically improve the companies' image. The CSR programs were not derived from the companies' vision and mission. There was no formulated social responsibility policy. This current research contributes to designing a 'signature' CSR program under its core business competencies for community welfare. This research is among the first to focus on municipal utility companies' CSR programs concerning communities in wetland areas.

Optimizing disinfectant residual dosage in engineered water systems to minimize the overall health risks of opportunistic pathogens and disinfection by-products

This Discussion argues that municipal water utilities may need to consider the health risks of both opportunistic pathogens (OPs) and disinfection by-products (DBPs) while selecting disinfectant residual dosages or levels in engineered water systems. OPs are natural inhabitants in municipal water systems and the leading cause of drinking-water-related disease outbreaks threatening public health. DBPs in water systems are genotoxic/carcinogenic and also significantly affect public health. Disinfectant residuals (such as free chlorine and chloramine residuals) dictate OP (re)growth and DBP formation in engineered water systems. Therefore, regulating the dosages or levels of disinfectant residuals is effective in controlling OP (re)growth and DBP formation. Existing effects assessing optimal disinfectant residual dosages focus solely on minimizing OP (re)growth or solely on DBP formation. However, selecting disinfectant residual dosages aiming to solely limit the formation of DBPs might compromise OP (re)growth control, and vice versa. An optimal disinfectant residual level for DBP formation control or OP (re)growth control might not be optimal for minimizing the overall or combined health effects of OPs and DBPs in drinking water. To better protect public health, water authorities may need to update the current residual disinfection practice and maintain disinfectant residuals in engineered water systems at an optimal level to minimize the overall health risks of OPs and DBPs.

Applications of Metal Organic Frameworks in Wastewater Treatment: A Review on Adsorption and Photodegradation

The growing accumulation of emerging contaminants in the environment can cause direct and indirect water pollution that puts human lives at risk. The fact that these contaminants are not or cannot be eliminated from the municipal water utilities, poses a significant concern. Researchers are currently pulling massive attention to improve existing technologies, develop new strategies and provide environmentally and durable solutions to mitigate water contamination problems. Adsorption and photodegradation are two of the most sustainable technologies that are used in water purification. These technologies have many advantages because of the economic, simple and easily operated designs needed to treat wastewater. Within these applications, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are playing a significant role as novel class of porous materials characterized by a crystalline structure. MOFs are considered good candidates to be employed in wastewater treatment technologies because of the tunability of their features. The scope of this review article is to provide a comprehensive description of the recent studies published in the literature about the adsorptive and photocatalytic use of MOFs for the removal of organic emerging contaminants from wastewater. Furthermore, this study briefly highlights the synthesis technologies of MOFs. Finally, future perspective, and challenges associated with MOFs large scale production are discussed.

Mind the Gap: Management System Standards Addressing the Gap for Ontario’s Municipal Drinking Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Ecosystem of Regulations

The research finds evidence in support of and wide recognition of the practical value of management system standards (MSS) by assisting municipalities in meeting their human health protection, environmental objectives, addressing environmental and property damage risks, and providing an additional mechanism of public accountability and transparency. Semi-structured interviews were applied to assess perceptions with practitioners and environmental non-governmental organizations on whether a similar approach to the legally required drinking water quality management standard (DWQMS) could be applied for the municipal wastewater and stormwater sectors. Twelve Ontario municipalities have adopted or are in the process of adopting an ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard for their wastewater and/or stormwater systems, which represents 66% of Ontario’s population. With the large urban centres (e.g., Toronto, York Region, Durham Region, Halton Region and Peel Region) adopting the standard, this is likely to influence small to medium-sized cities to follow a similar approach. Although, resources might be a factor preventing the cohort of smaller utilities voluntarily taking this path. Regulations governing Ontario’s municipal drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities were compared via gap analysis. Gaps on management of the system, performance monitoring, auditing and having minimum design criteria left the municipal wastewater and stormwater sectors behind in comparison with recently updated (2004–2008) regulatory framework for the drinking water sector. Based on the identification and review of significant gaps in wastewater and stormwater regulation (compared with the drinking water sector), environmental MSS should be incorporated to strengthen the regulatory framework of these sectors. These phenomena also depict a form of sustainable governance with the use of MSS, which are initiated, developed and regulated by non-state actors, recognizing the value of non-state rule instruments in the water, wastewater and stormwater sectors.

Knowledge Transfer in Municipal Water and Wastewater Organizations

Municipal water and wastewater utility systems are experiencing several issues related to an aging workforce. Of particular importance, is the technical knowledge drain generated when the experienced operational workforce retires. It is important to transfer their knowledge into the organization for the future success of system operability. Recent investigations highlight the importance of, and the methods for, knowledge transfer, however, the current literature does not include significant information on the municipal utility industry. The objective of this descriptive research is to assess how municipal utility organizations transfer their operational knowledge. A qualitative case study research approach was used to evaluate operational knowledge transfer in six municipal utility organizations. The results indicate that five methods are commonly used in municipal utility organizations; however, there are some methods that are used more than others depending on the operational learning situation. Engineering managers can use this paper as a guide in the design of custom knowledge management programs in municipal utility organizations. These results can inform future investigations in the areas of knowledge management and knowledge transfer.

Take a Holistic Approach to Control Nitrification

In tackling a nitrification problem at a Texas municipal water utility, results of a sampling study led to implementing a holistic strategy to improve operations, monitoring, and infrastructure.

Decorporatization of a municipal water utility: A case study from Italy

In Italy, debate over management forms of water utilities has continued for about thirty years, with legislation that periodically oscillates between the involvement of the private sector and keeping water management in public hands. Political and scientific discourse has focused considerable attention on ownership structure, following the ideological dichotomy of “public or private” rather than on models of governance, management, and performance. The literature finds divergent conclusions, which highlights the key role of country's institutional context in identifying the best management forms. The present work aims at providing policy and regulatory implications of decorporatization in Italy following the 2011 popular referendum through a case study of the first of its kind involving the ABC utility based in Naples. In particular, the role of primary stakeholders in the process is highlighted.

Returns on investment in watershed conservation: Application of a best practices analytical framework to the Rio Camboriú Water Producer program, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Watershed management may have widespread potential to cost-effectively deliver hydrologic services. Mobilizing the needed investments requires credible assessments of how watershed conservation compares to conventional solutions on cost and effectiveness, utilizing an integrated analytical framework that links the bio-, litho-, hydro- and economic spheres and uses counterfactuals.We apply such a framework to a payment for watershed services (PWS) program in Camboriú, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Using 1 m resolution satellite imagery, we assess recent land use and land cover (LULC) change and apply the Land Change Modeler tool to predict future LULC without the PWS program. We use current and predicted counterfactual LULC, site costs and a Soil and Water Assessment Tool model calibrated to the watershed to both target watershed interventions for sediment reduction and predict program impact on total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations at the municipal water intake—the principal program objective. Using local water treatment and PWS program costs, we estimate the return on investment (ROI; benefit/costs) of the program.Program ROI exceeds 1 for the municipal water utility in year 44, well within common drinking water infrastructure planning horizons. Because some program costs are borne by third parties, over that same period, for overall (social) program ROI to exceed 1 requires delivery of very modest flood and supply risk reduction and biodiversity co-benefits, making co-benefits crucial for social program justification. Transaction costs account for half of total program costs, a result of large investments in efficient targeting and program sustainability. Co-benefits justify increased cost sharing with other beneficiaries, which would increase ROI for the utility, demonstrating the sensitivity of the business case for watershed conservation to its broader social-economic case and the ability to forge institutional arrangements to internalize third-party benefits.