Financial Resiliency and Future Plans

What could make the difference between a water or wastewater utility making it through an event like Hurricane Florence with relatively few impacts, and one that has major, lasting problems? Imagine two North Carolina utilities, just over the county line from one another, with the same assets that are exactly the same age, located at the same elevations. Will their ability to provide service after a storm be exactly the same? What type of things might they do before the storm hits to improve the outcome? Between November 2017 and March 2018, the North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM) and the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (EFC) set out to answer these kind of questions through a statewide survey of utility management and long-term planning practices and policies. The notion was that utilities that undertake more planning for the future would show greater resiliency, as measured by financial stability and system performance (fewer regulatory violations). Using guidance from the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and other sources, five key types of long-term planning undertaken by water and wastewater utilities were identified: financial, asset management, capital improvement, disaster/emergency/resiliency, and long-range water resources planning. All North Carolina local government-owned utilities and many not-for-profit utilities were invited to participate in the survey. Of the 511 utilities invited to do so, 227, or 44 percent, participated in the survey. These utilities serve the vast majority of residents who are connected to public water and/or wastewater systems in North Carolina. For full details of the results, take a look at [...]