Although sustainability remains a key goal for the U.S. water sector, fewer than 20 percent of respondents to a recent survey claim to have developed One Water plans. The finding — which appears in the 2023 Water Report released on June 6 by the engineering, procurement, consulting, and construction company Black & Veatch — highlights the extent to which holistic water management practices have yet to gain a firm foothold across most U.S. municipalities and utilities.

The 2023 version of Black & Veatch’s annual report, which is available for download here, is based on responses to a survey of approximately 450 U.S. water industry stakeholders.

Spotlight on sustainability

When asked about the importance of sustainability within the U.S. water industry, 66 percent of respondents overall agreed that sustainability is a “critical strategic focus,” according to the report. The finding is “virtually unchanged from last year’s feedback,” the report states.

Sustainability appears to be a greater concern among larger utilities. Among survey participants working for utilities that serve 500,000 or more people, 74 percent identified sustainability as a “critical strategic focus,” while 24 percent said that it “sounds good but [is] not a strategic focus right now,” according to the report. 

By comparison, 66 percent of respondents from utilities that serve fewer than 500,000 people agreed that sustainability is a “critical strategic focus,” while 33 percent said that it “sounds good but [is] not a strategic focus right now.”

Utility, municipality ‘disconnect’

When it comes to sustainability planning, Black & Veatch identifies what it calls a “disconnect” between water utilities and municipalities. Forty-one percent of respondents indicated that their water utility and local municipality either share the same sustainability plan or the municipality has a sustainability plan that includes the water utility.

However, nearly 60 percent of participants stated that their utility and local municipality are not aligned on the issue of sustainability planning, if such plans exist at all. For example, 23 percent said that their municipality and utility have unrelated sustainability plans, while another 21 percent indicated that neither their municipality nor utility have such plans. Meanwhile, 8 percent of respondents said that their water utility has a sustainability plan but their municipality does not, while 7 percent indicated that their municipality has a plan that does not include their utility.

For its part, Black & Veatch noted that this apparent disconnect between utilities and municipalities can lead to some downsides. “While it’s great that most utilities and municipalities seem to have some sort of sustainability plan, the lack of coordination means cost-saving and process optimization opportunities are being missed,” the report states.

Respondents identified the following concerns as the main obstacles to achieving their sustainability strategies:

• affordability (67 percent)

• availability of resources/capacity (49 percent)

• technology (26 percent)

• regulatory hurdles (18 percent)

• lack of public support (11 percent)

As for measures to enhance sustainability, respondents identified the following actions as their top efforts:

• operational efficiency (67 percent)

• asset management program (64 percent)

• energy efficiency initiatives (58 percent)

• proactive replacing of infrastructure (55 percent)

• water conservation (48 percent)

A ways to go on One Water

Amid its findings on the topic of resilience, the report notes that fewer than one in five U.S. water utilities have developed integrated planning approaches to address the varied challenges to improved resilience.

“Asked whether they have developed a ‘One Water’ plan, integrated water supply plan or an integrated water management plan, only 18 percent answered yes,” the report states. “An additional 17 percent said no but saw a need to do so sometime in the future.” 

To a certain extent, this finding reflects the historical reality of much of the U.S. water sector, Black & Veatch notes. “The response could be indicative of a sector where solutions are typically or historically siloed or not holistic and well-integrated across the operational silos of the organization to drive greater synergies and quicker, efficient outcomes,” the report notes.

However, the siloed approach means that the water sector “is missing an opportunity” to improve its resilience, Black & Veatch says. “‘One Water’ with integrated water solutions make sense, and they can be tailored to the unique challenges utilities and municipalities face, delivering the resource quality, efficiency and productivity they seek,” the report notes. “It’s at that point — with thoughtful planning, flexibility and innovation pointing the way forward — that true confidence in the resilience of their water supplies would  be achieved.” 

As for steps that respondents are taking or considering to improve the resilience of their water supplies, the top five actions were:

• water conservation (43 percent)

• increase water storage capacity above or below ground (38 percent)

• further develop groundwater supplies (38 percent)

• further develop surface water supplies (28 percent))

• infrastructure hardening (26 percent)

Chief challenges

When asked to select the most challenging issues facing the water, wastewater, and stormwater industry today, respondents highlighted the aging nature of the related infrastructure as well as the workforce that oversees it. 

Overall, 61 percent of survey participants listed “aging water and wastewater infrastructure” as the top challenge facing the industry, while 51 percent selected “aging workforce/hiring qualified staff” as their chief concern. The next highest challenge — “funding or availability of capital” — was cited by 23 percent of respondents.

Regarding the “major investments” that they expect their municipality or utility to make during the next decade, 61 percent of survey participants cited “water reliability/supply resilience.” As for the next most likely investments, 56 percent selected asset rehabilitation/renewal, 50 percent said cybersecurity, and 49 percent selected regulatory compliance associated with the management of the class of emerging contaminants known as PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.