WaterSmart Software, a water utility customer engagement platform provider, has announced the launch of WaterSmart eQuality, a suite of communication and segmentation tools to help water utilities better communicate drinking water quality to their customers. This innovative solution is designed to make drinking water quality easily understandable to all residents, with a focus on building trust with disadvantaged communities that are often most affected by public health issues related to water quality. WaterSmart eQuality also serves as an important channel to communicate the ongoing value of water utility investments in providing a safe and reliable water supply.
“The lack of transparency around the current crisis in Flint, Mich., has made a bad situation worse, underscoring the need for better communication about drinking water quality,” said Robin Gilthorpe, WaterSmart CEO. “While utilities are required to inform their citizens of water quality, current reporting is arcane and inadequate. WaterSmart eQuality is designed to make water quality clear, concise and compelling, providing a valuable tool for utilities to engage with all of their customers.”
Water utilities are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue annual consumer confidence reports (CCRs) that provide detailed information on water quality testing, contaminant levels, and adherence to federal quality standards. However, these reports are highly technical, challenging to decipher and usually difficult to find on municipal websites.
WaterSmart eQuality reports are designed to help disadvantaged communities intuitively understand water quality information across their preferred communication channels, including web, mobile, text, voice and print. WaterSmart eQuality helps customers locate key information about water quality, better understand acceptable contaminant levels, learn about quality testing services and ascertain related information regarding ongoing water treatment investments. In the event of water contamination or boil notices, WaterSmart eQuality enables water utilities to proactively engage with their customers about remediation efforts.
“Unfortunately, water quality is not always provided equitably to customers for a number of reasons,” said Ed Archuleta, former CEO of El Paso Water Utilities. “Disadvantaged communities are often affected more significantly by poor water quality. WaterSmart eQuality is designed to communicate the hard work and substantial investments utilities make to ensure excellent quality, while helping water utilities build trust with their customers.”
WaterSmart attended the White House Water Summit in Washington, D.C., alongside U.S. government representatives and leaders from the public, private, academic and non-profit sectors to discuss equal access to quality water. WaterSmart pledged, over the next 10 years, to expand its utility partnership community to reach more than 45 states and over 5,000 water utilities with its digital customer-engagement technologies. The company estimates that as a result of this expansion, more than 128 billion gallons of water (the equivalent annual water use of 1.2 million households) will be saved, and carbon-equivalent emissions will be reduced by more than 1 million metric tons.
Source: WaterSmart
