Articles by: Contributing Author

By Mike Russin The jobs report may show the unemployment rate at a rare low, but one industry has been struggling to hire for several years now. Municipalities are facing a workforce gap as Baby Boomers continue to enter retirement — and the jobs availableRead More

BY GREG BAIRD The U.S. water market has been called fragmented, slow moving, highly competitive and ever evolving with new mergers, products, services and technologies. Business development managers for existing water firms are feeling the increased level of competition, and new entrants to the waterRead More

By John Blondell & Christopher Overcash Much of our nation’s underground infrastructure is reaching or functioning beyond expected lifespans. This critical network of pipes and mains serve our most basic drinking water and sanitary sewer needs. Many municipalities are faced with the challenging task ofRead More

Prioritizing Your Aging Water Infrastructure Needs through a Systematic, Comprehensive Approach By Ahmad Habibian The deteriorating state of the nation’s water infrastructure has resulted in premature failures, costly emergency repairs and negative publicity. Given the limited availability of resources, utilities are looking for cost-effective condition assessmentRead More

By Ben Côté For the past 20 years, I have been lucky enough to participate actively in the development and commercialization of a new approach to re-building aging water mains. Largely used for the rehabilitation of sewer pipes, there was no equivalent cured-in-place pip (CIPP) technologyRead More

…and the Role of Instrumentation and Process Control By Randall C. Chann The future state of the water reclamation facility is starting to take shape. The re-designation of plants from wastewater treatment to water reclamation underscores the shift. The elements of change are clear: a focusRead More

Asset management can be a gradual process, but condition assessment requires more than a superficial scan of system components. News media report the big infrastructure failures. Whether we manage water systems or tap into them, we hear about major water main breaks, tunnel collapses andRead More

By Mike Keegan On July 5, President Donald Trump tweeted that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt had resigned from his position as the head of the agency. The acting administrator is now Andrew Wheeler, who previously served as deputy administrator. Wheeler hasRead More

By Jim Baehr There’s no doubt that articulating the vision and mission of your water utility is necessary. They communicate your core purpose – your brand – the utility’s fundamental reason for being. Building a brand on ‘purpose’ is becoming more and more important. It’sRead More

By Janani Mohanakrishnan, Christine Boyle & James Poff Every day, U.S. water utilities lose an estimated six billion gallons of water, or 30 percent of the water they provide, through non-revenue water loss. The water loss can be attributed to main leaks and storage tankRead More