What U.S. cities are at the forefront of the One Water movement and what can others learn from them?

Cities, communities and agencies that are dealing with a multitude of issues are seeing the path to solutions through One Water. They do so by also bringing in the water-energy-resource nexus focus to make themselves more resilient in the process. They tend to have visionary leadership no matter the size of the utility or community. We see examples coast to coast – in the West and the East and increasingly in the Central states. They are driven by different sets of issues, and what tips the balance for them to take action might be somewhat different, but they are moving forward to future-proof their communities.

Driven by water shortage, the City and the County of Los Angeles, along with the cities in their service areas, are charting a path that includes tools that range from demand reduction to supply diversification. Similarly, the San Diego area is being strengthened with great investment in water infrastructure.

The Orange County Water District Groundwater Replenishment Project is a great example of water reuse initiatives. The project recently added 30 million gallons a day to the system’s capacity, upping its total to 130 mgd, enabling 100 percent of the area’s reclaimable wastewater flows to be recycled.

Across California, systems thinking is driving water supply security through all forms of reuse, stormwater management/capture, and desalination. One key element of success is collaboration – among agencies, regions, and even neighboring states. The other is outside-the-box thinking and intentional planning and action.

Areas in Florida are seeing similar leadership, at times driven by effluent management, aquifer management, or growth. Winter Haven is a good example of a One Water approach that can be tailored to meet the needs of much larger cities. The town of about 50,000 residents leveraged the same elements and frameworks that are being used in Los Angeles, which has a population of nearly 4 million. This illustrates that every implementation of One Water paves the way for another community, regardless of size. There is something to learn from every One Water initiative.

We are fortunate to help and support these leaders, but it’s their efforts that are driving change and making our communities water and energy resilient using integrated solutions.

Overall, drivers for adopting One Water vary greatly depending on the region, and there are many creative and innovative projects underway that other communities can learn from and adapt to meet their own needs.

What are the main challenges faced by those in the One Water movement today?

Funding, limited resources, and having to tackle multiple problems at once – these factors affect most infrastructure projects. On top of these challenges, the One Water movement also needs to educate and shift public perceptions and decrease the lack of awareness among the public about the value of water.

We are seeing innovative ways to get the word out, educate, and demonstrate how safe the water actually is. Essentially, our industry keeps public safety front of mind. Sometimes this comes at a necessary cost.

The other challenge has been the speed of innovation – in policy, technology, and implementation. We are getting better at that. Collaborating with the Water Research Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and others, we are developing solutions that are safe and reliable.

Many agencies face large capital expenditures to improve aging infrastructure at the same time that they are trying to ensure affordability for their customers. How can agencies balance these goals?

It seems to start with a declared commitment, and then finding ways to embed these values into the methods used in evaluating and deciding how to move forward on the infrastructure projects.

Integrated solutions that bring systems-scale planning also seem to be critical. Implementation of the chosen solution set may need to be phased, but with the commitment to following the roadmap and doing it transparently.

Digital water solutions are truly the key to achieving financial, community, and sustainability objectives. Black & Veatch’s recent 2023 Water Report shows that the water sector is undergoing a digital transformation, with utilities having a digital water strategy in place and clear objectives defined. Digital water delivers the tools utilities need for better leak detection, asset monitoring, system and operations optimization, and more. Utilities can turn data into actionable insights, achieve a higher return on investment, and make more accurate decisions. Utilities can see immediate benefit from the application of digital solutions.

In addition, it’s important for utilities to educate communities on the issues and make public commitments in order to demonstrate accountability. Agencies can engage in transparent communication with customers about the need for infrastructure investments and the associated costs. By providing customers with clear information about the state of the infrastructure, the need for upgrades and what the benefits of those upgrades will be, agencies can build trust with their customers and garner support for infrastructure investments.

In some situations, green infrastructure offers certain advantages over gray infrastructure. But gray infrastructure tends to last longer and require less maintenance. Have utilities that have had green infrastructure in place for some time done an adequate job maintaining their installations? Or is deferred maintenance with green infrastructure a growing (or future) problem?

What we know from decades of implementing infrastructure projects with our clients, and even looking around in our communities, is that any infrastructure requires maintenance. There is no “build it and forget it” solution. I look around my house or garden and I wish that was the case! The key is that different types of infrastructure require different kinds of attention and maintenance.

To help communities more effectively manage nature-based solutions, green infrastructure, and gray infrastructure all making up the whole system, we have been innovating how to maintain these distributed assets as part of a larger infrastructure system. One opportunity is applying asset management practices to these distributed nature-based solutions. Asset management frameworks enable us to understand the consequences of failure, efficiently manage the level of service, and prioritize critical maintenance activities. Another opportunity with managing green infrastructure is related to workforce – the integration of small businesses that may be good at green infrastructure maintenance coupled with more involved mechanical systems maintenance works. But we need to plan for it. To make the implementation easier, we are implementing digital solutions and data management to track work orders, monitor asset performance, and monitor system performance/operation.

Are you working on integrated water approaches with any agencies whose efforts you can highlight?

Black & Veatch is currently working with the San Diego County Water Authority (Water Authority) on their 2023 Water Facilities Master Plan. A major focus of the master plan effort is to provide system resiliency and redundancy. This is being accomplished through various evaluations, including addressing future supply and demand conditions. Many of the Water Authority’s member agencies are investing in major local water supply projects (including potable reuse), which in turn required the Water Authority to model these future scenarios to understand what effects these new local supply projects would have on regional imported supplies. Abrupt disruptions (e.g., earthquakes, fires) to the delivery system have also been assessed to determine their effect on deliveries, along with potential remedies to limit the impact on reliability. Lastly, an overarching goal of the master planning efforts is to optimize the existing facilities and look for solutions that reimagine their use to improve the overall resiliency against an uncertain future.