Articles by: Contributing Author

By Michael Brown & Jason Peters Facing a dire financial situation in 2013, the City of Allentown, Pa., looked to monetize its water and wastewater systems through a 50-year concession lease arrangement. Nearby Lehigh County Authority (LCA), another publicly-owned water and wastewater utility, was aRead More

How Are They Affecting Green Infrastructure? Across the nation, countless cities with antiquated sewer and stormwater systems are under orders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce stormwater runoff to decrease the amount of pollution entering local waterways. When Washington, D.C., faced thisRead More

 | By Alex Williams Ensuring the safety of citizens, managing critical assets, complying with regulatory standards and eliminating unplanned downtime — these are a few of the major hurdles faced by water industry professionals. Computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) can play a significant role inRead More

Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Assess and Monetize the Condition of Water Mains By Doug Hatler & Greg Baird Asset Management practices combined with the latest condition assessment tools using artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning, to assess the condition of buried water mainsRead More

By Ryan Callender & J. Wes Kerns On Dec. 22, 2017, H.R. 1 (the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”) was signed into law. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, among other things, reduced corporate tax rates, modified individual tax rates, eliminated many deductions, repealed theRead More

A design-build contractor is often in the best position to manage a project, so it should be assigned as much of the associated risk as possible. By Brian Adams Cost, schedule and performance risks need to be managed on all capital projects. The best wayRead More

By John Matthews Traditionally, research conducted at many universities falls under the category of fundamental research, which is primarily conducted to enhance our basic knowledge in a certain area. In the trenchless technology industry, and regarding the university researchers active in the field, the focusRead More

By Jeff Hughes, Shadi Eskaf & Liz Harvell The relationship between water pricing and water use is more nuanced than basic economic theory on supply and demand suggests. That’s what the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (EFC) found inRead More

By Andy McCartney Personal financial advisors often recommend that families should have enough money in an emergency fund to cover at least three to six months of living expenses. Corporations such as Microsoft, General Electric and Home Depot maintain excess operating funds for their ownRead More

By Michael Warady Every middle school teacher in America has stood in front of a group of students and delivered the old Benjamin Franklin adage that “the only things guaranteed in life are death and taxes.” Luckily for those of us in the water industry,Read More