Strategic Directions Water Report Published

Black & Veatch just published a very interesting survey entitled Strategic Directions: Water Report.  The survey, which involved 300 leaders in the water industry, reveals that industry leaders are most concerned about aging water infrastructure, succession planning, and the downstream impact of forest fires, drought conditions and flooding.  The report also reveals that operational digitization is viewed as a critical component of emergency preparedness going forward. 

Insights from the Strategic Directions: Water Report

The Water Report survey contained some interesting revelations, including:

• The most important concern, indicated by 84% of the respondents, is the impact of a natural disaster on critical infrastructure.
• 56% of respondents believe that their company has solid data management processes, but unfortunately most do not believe that this data is fully integrated into company systems, and only 20% are currently utilizing it for effective analytics and operational digitization despite a corporate mandate to do so.
• 55% of respondents have begun incorporating climate change into planning processes, which represents a relatively new and emerging trend within the industry.  As part of this planning, 60% say water reclamation strategies are becoming more important.
• 54% of respondents are now conducting regular assessments of the vulnerability of their company’s assets and infrastructure.  This is obviously good, but there is still a long way to go as only 22% of the respondents indicated that these assessments were conducted within the last three years. 
• Approximately 33% of respondents say that they need to do a better job of educating their customers about what it takes to supply drinking water and treat wastewater.

Based on the Water Report responses, the Black & Veatch researchers conclude that current industry assumptions and practices are becoming increasingly outdated.  They believe that it would behoove water utilities to increase their focus on data analysis and digitization.  This will help water and wastewater companies optimize system and infrastructure investments, thereby enhancing their ability to plan for the long run, harden their infrastructure, and improve ROI.