Regional Water Authorities: Sharing Costs, Risks and Resources
In this episode Talking Under Water co-host Bob Crossen speaks with Natalie Sierra, technical market leader for wastewater utilities at Brown and Caldwell, and Manon Fisher, utility strategy and performance consultant at Brown and Caldwell, about the growing trend of regional water and wastewater authorities.
Utilities across the country are increasingly joining forces to tackle aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, and rising costs that are hard to solve alone. Sierra and Fisher explain how tightening regulations, PFAS-related limits on biosolids land application, and affordability concerns are pushing utilities to share costs and risks, and how a new regional authority can set its own rates and take on debt. They also highlight practical applications beyond infrastructure, from shared IT and cybersecurity staff to bulk chemical purchasing.
Then the conversation turns to the biggest hurdle: governance. As the guests explain, the engineering is often the easier part, while questions of who decides, who pays, and who carries risk are institutional and interpersonal. Regions with existing interlocal agreements, such as Northern Virginia, tend to have an easier time.
They also discuss how regionalization is changing the role of consulting firms and why they expect collaboration, not consolidation, to define the future as experienced professionals retire.
Show notes
WWD State of the Industry survey
WW State of the Industry survey
Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction
02:21 – Why regionalization is growing
05:37 – Why utilities want in
07:58 – Beyond infrastructure: IT, cybersecurity, and bulk buying
09:20 – The governance challenge
15:25 – Where regionalization goes next
19:49 – Housekeeping
About the Podcast
Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Wastewater Digest (WWD), WaterWorld and Stormwater Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential, stormwater and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and interviews with experts across the municipal water industry. New episodes of the podcast are released every other week. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.
Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing [email protected] engaging with them on X @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media.
About the Author
Bob CrossenBob Crossen
Bob Crossen is the vice president of content strategy for the Water and Energy Groups of Endeavor Business Media, a division of EndeavorB2B. EB2B publishes WaterWorld, Wastewater Digest and Stormwater Solutions in its water portfolio and publishes Oil & Gas Journal, Offshore Magazine, T&D World, EnergyTech and Microgrid Knowledge in its energy portfolio. Crossen graduated from Illinois State University in Dec. 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in German and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He worked for Campbell Publications, a weekly newspaper company in rural Illinois outside St. Louis for four years as a reporter and regional editor. Crossen can be reached at [email protected].
