Examples of Our Work
UTILITY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2024
Glenn presented at the 2024 Utility Management Conference in Portland, OR, on how utilities can promote household water conservation. Utilities are in the business of selling water, but they may have incentives to encourage conservation. All of us need water to live and to exist in modern society, but some customers also use water in ways that is unnecessary. Utilities need to use data analysis to identify customers with unnecessary water use—outdoor use, leaks, and outdated fixtures—and design programs that target the specific type or types of unnecessary water use their customers have to encourage conservation. A copy of Glenn’s presentation is available here.
WEBINAR: ADDRESSING AFFORDABILITY AND INCREASING ON-TIME BILL PAYMENTS
Water Finance Assistance has partnered with RCAP, the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, to offer a webinar series on how to improve wastewater compliance through better utility finance and management. In the first webinar in the series, Glenn presented on how wastewater utilities can measure whether customers are able to afford their bills by examining community demographics as well as the utility’s bill payment rate. The webinar also discusses strategies and programs utilities can use to address affordability concerns and to increase their on-time bill payments. A recording of the webinar is available here.
BUDGETING & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP FOR SMALL WATERWORKS
Water Finance Assistance partnered with SERCAP to offer a workshop on budgeting and financial management for small waterworks. The workshop was held in South Boston, VA on December 11, 2023. Sessions included identifying utility revenues and expenses, explaining budgeting best practices, calculating budget prices, and describing how to monitor utility finances throughout the year. Presentations are available here:
Utility Revenues & Expenses · Budgeting Best Practices · Pricing a Budget · Monitoring Utility Finances
FLORIDA SECTION AWWA FALL 2023 CONFERENCE
Elora presented at the 2023 Florida Section AWWA Fall Conference on the steps utilities should take to maximize the benefits of a compensation study in November 2023. Salaries and benefits are a key component of employee retention, and utilities should assess how their compensation offerings compare to the competition every 2 years. Utilities can maximize the benefit of these studies by understanding their compensation philosophies, auditing internal data, and taking advantage of free and low-cost compensation data resources. A copy of the presentation is available here.
HAWAI’I WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION 2023 CONFERENCE
Glenn gave two presentations at the Hawai’i Water Works Association Conference in October 2023. The first focused on how utility staff can measure and improve on-time bill payments from their customers, increasing utility revenue and decreasing shutoffs. The second focused on strategies to improve utility employee retention by going beyond compensation to consider an employee’s relationship with colleagues and bosses and the employee’s career path. Presentations are available here:
Improving Bill Payment Rates · Improving Employee Retention
WATER FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT FOR TRIBAL UTILITIES
Glenn gave multiple presentations for Tribal water and wastewater utilities in September 2023 in Mesa, AZ at the Tribal Operator Working Group meeting led by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. The diverse set of topics included the benefits of mutual aid agreements to improve day-to-day operations and address emergencies, strategies to set rates for water and wastewater service, reducing non-revenue water through improved water loss control, simple steps to bolster utility cybersecurity, and improving utility resilience through better customer service.
BUILDING THE MANAGERIAL SKILLS OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS IN THE WATER & WASTEWATER SECTORS
Water Finance Assistance is partnered with RCAP, the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, on an innovative program to build the managerial and leadership skills of administrative professionals in the water and wastewater sectors who play a crucial role in utility sustainability, especially in small communities. Glenn co-wrote a blog post and a magazine article on how this program is progressing in Summer 2023.
WEBINAR: HELP LESS FORTUNATE CUSTOMERS PAY THEIR BILLS
Glenn joined a webinar with AMCS Group in May 2023 to discuss ways that utilities can help less fortunate customers pay their water bills, whether the customer was having a short-term issue due to unexpected expenses or is constantly struggling to pay for basic necessities. Keeping the water on is in the best interest of both the utility and the customer. A recording of the webinar is available here.
WEBINAR: STEPS IN INCREASE UTILITY BILL PAYMENT RATES
Glenn joined a webinar with AMCS Group in April 2023 to discuss why utility customers do not pay their bills on time and strategies utilities can use to increase the number of customers that pay their bills on time and in full each billing period. A recording of the webinar is available here.
UTILITY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2023
Glenn presented at the 2023 Utility Management Conference in Sacramento, CA, sharing the story of a water utility serving 50,000 people that, based on demographics, should not have significant affordability challenges but still saw a relatively high rate of late payments. Using innovative data analysis, Water Finance Assistance helped the utility discover several likely reasons customers were paying late and designed appropriate programs to boost on-time payments. A copy of Glenn’s presentation is available here.
EPA CLIMATE RISK AND RESILIENCE TRAINING
Glenn presented as part of EPA’s series on Climate Risk and Resilience Trainings in March 2023. The training focused on introducing EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative to Tribal utilities, with strategies to become more resilient and sustainable. Glenn led the discussion on funding options available for resiliency projects and joined a panel discussion on utility finance. A recording of the training is available here, and a copy of the presentation is available here.
BLOG: INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING
Glenn wrote a blog post in February 2023 on ways that utilities can increase the likelihood of accessing infrastructure funding. There is an unprecedented level of funding available for water and wastewater utilities due to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but competition for funds has never been higher. This post highlights strategies utilities can use to increase their chances of securing funding. It was written as part of Water Finance Assistance’s partnership with 120Water and is available here.
JERSEY WATERCHECK
Water Finance Assistance advised Jersey WaterWorks on the creation of Jersey WaterCheck, a comprehensive online dashboard featuring data about New Jersey’s water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. Using data from the dashboard, Glenn has written blogs in 2021, 2022, and 2023 on measuring expenditures on capital improvements, utility financial health, lead service line replacement, controlling water loss, and capital investment.
IOWA ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPAL UTILITIES 2022 WATER & WASTEWATER OPERATOR’S TRAINING WORKSHOP
Glenn presented at the annual operator’s training workshop in Altoona, IA in December 2022 on what funding is available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Glenn also discussed strategies that utilities can use to increase the likelihood of accessing these highly competitive funds. A copy of Glenn’s presentation is available here.
SKILL SERIES: HOW TO COMPETE FOR WATER INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING
Glenn joined Utility Cloud in December 2022 to discuss how utilities can compete for water infrastructure funding. The webcast covered what funding is available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the steps utilities can take to be more competitive. A recording of the session is available here.
PODCAST: CHALLENGES & TRENDS IN SMALL SYSTEMS
Glenn joined the Talking Under Water podcast to discuss the issues facing small water systems in the United States today—what they are thinking day by day, how they are looking at infrastructure funding, the impacts of inflation on small communities, workforce issues, and where small systems are headed in the future. The episode, which first aired in August 2022, is available anywhere podcasts can be downloaded and can also be streamed here.
PODCAST: DATA ANALYTICS FOR WATER UTILITIES OF TOMORROW
Glenn joined the Utility Cloud Guide podcast to explain how water utilities can use data effectively to make smarter finance and management policy decisions. Utilities have access to a wealth of data related to finance and management but don’t always take full advantage of it. Glenn discussed water audits and Water Finance’s affordability and bill payment analyses. The episode first aired in May 2022 and is available here.
WEBINAR: THREE VIEWS ON HOW DROUGHT IMPACTS WATER UTILITY FINANCES
In December 2021, Glenn joined Sanjay Gaur, Greg Baird, and JP Joly on a panel to discuss how drought can impact the short-term and long-term finances of drinking water utilities. The webinar was hosted by Waterworth. A recording of the webinar is available here.
WEBINAR: ASSET MANAGEMENT FUNDING MINI-SERIES: GETTING YOUR PROGRAM FUNDED
In November 2021, Glenn joined this webinar to discuss how to pay for asset management programs, with advice on using revenue generated from customers as well as available loans and grants. Glenn also provided an update on the infrastructure funding bill. This webinar was hosted by Utility Cloud, and a recording is available here.
PRESENTATION: BUILDING UTILITY FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
In September 2021, Glenn gave a three hour presentation on building utility financial sustainability, with discussions of budgeting, rate setting, and infrastructure funding. The presentation was part of the Tribal Operator Workgroup Meeting hosted by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. A copy of the presentation is available here.
WEBINAR SERIES: DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING
Throughout 2021, Water Finance Assistance partnered with Teksouth to offer the Data-Driven Decision Making webinar series. The webinars discussed how utilities can use data to make improved policy decisions for long-term financial sustainability and covered topics such as the general ledger, affordability, rate setting, capital planning, water loss, and operational efficiency. Glenn participated in the first seven episodes in the series, and recordings are available here.
PARTNERSHIP WITH 120WATER ON PAYING FOR LEAD SERVICE LINE REPLACEMENT
In 2021, Water Finance Assistance formally partnered with 120Water to help communities access infrastructure funding for lead service line replacement and other critical capital improvements. Water Finance Assistance became an early member of 120Water’s Service Partner Network to to help water professionals manage all aspects of their drinking water programs. An announcement about the partnership is available here.
UTILITY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2021
At the AWWA/WEF Utility Management Conference 2021, Glenn presented on how water utilities can make changes to their bill formats to encourage conservation. Drawing from leading research in behavioral economics, the best methods include showing customers their rate structure, providing information on usage relative to others, offering conservation tips, and even including emojis. This presentation is based on a capstone project conducted by a team of student researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is available here.
WEBINAR SERIES: UTILITY FINANCE FOR SMALL WATER SYSTEMS
In late 2020 and early 2021, Water Finance Assistance partnered with the Great Lakes Environmental Infrastructure Center to offer webinars on utility finance for small water systems. Topics included having enough revenue for today and tomorrow and rate design and pricing. Presentations are available from the links provided.
FORMULATE GREAT RATES GUIDEBOOK
Water Finance Assistance partnered with RCAP, the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, to update their Formulate Great Rates guidebook and Excel tool. The guidebook describes the process of how a small water utility can conduct an audit of their water rates, determining if their current rate structure will be sufficient in the years to come. The guide and tool are available for free and can be downloaded from the RCAP website.
EDMUNDS GOVTALK ON COVID-19
In August 2020, Glenn joined Stacey Isaac Berahzer, Lauren Brown, and Gary Sanders on a panel to discuss the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drinking water utilities. This webinar was part of Edmunds GovTech’s GovTalk series. Glenn described changes to revenues and expenses as a result of COVID and provided suggestions for how utilities could adjust to protect their financial health. A recording of the webinar is available here.
RCAP ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2020
In August 2020, Glenn offered the presentation “From Gut Feelings to Hard Numbers: Measuring Community Financial Health” to the field staff of RCAP, the Rural Community Assistance Partnership. The presentation identified key financial indicators that utilities can calculate to measure financial health and demonstrated the calculations using a real-world utility example. A copy of the presentation is available here.
ARTICLE: SERVING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS
Glenn’s article discusses the best approach to the annual rate process, which includes determining what the community values and to measure how well the water system is doing in achieving those values. It appeared in the February 2020 edition of Water Finance & Management and is available here.
IOWA RATE SETTING WORKSHOP SERIES 2019
Your water rates are the most important source of revenue for your water system. This workshop series explored important aspects of water system finance, including how to structure appropriate rates for your community, how to plan for the future, how to measure financial health, and how to find available loans and grants. Presentations and materials are available here.
INTERVIEW: RATE SETTING & FISCAL PLANNING FOR WATER SYSTEMS
Glenn was interviewed by the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities (IAMU) for their Fall 2019 edition of IAMU Connection. The issue focused on utility finance. Glenn discussed best practices in water rate setting, new considerations in financial planning, and the value of technical assistance. The interview can be found here.
HAWAI’I WATERWORKS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE 2019
Glenn gave three presentations at the 58th Annual HWWA Conference in Honolulu in October 2019. The first looked at pricing and non-pricing strategies to promote conservation. The second focused on how to set water rates that meet community priorities. The final presentation looked at data driven decision making, in particular for conservation and affordability. Presentations are below:
PODCAST: ARE YOUR WATER UTILITY’S FINANCES HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?
In September 2019, Glenn joined Dave McGimpsey to talk about a range of water finance issues including common shortcomings by utilities in water finance, affordability concerns and measuring affordability, strategies to maximize bill payment, financial planning metrics for water utilities, rules of thumb for utility financial metrics, and economic development. The episode is available for free download wherever you get your podcasts. It is also available from the Water Values Podcast website.
WEBINAR: IS YOUR WATER SYSTEM MEETING ITS PRIORITIES?
This webinar explored examples of how to measure your progress in achieving key priorities for drinking water systems including having appropriate revenues, economic development, efficient use of water resources, and maximizing bill payments. The webinar was held on June 19, 2019.