American Water COO Walter Lynch Participates In White House Water Summit, Outlines Commitment To Sustainable Water Future

American Water committed to $5.5 Billion in 5 years to ensure reliable water service, $3 million in research projects in 2016 and initiatives with GE and ComEd

Voorhees, NJ – American Water (NYSE: AWK), the nation’s largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, participated in the White House Water Summit, being held today — World Water Day — in Washington, D.C. During the Summit, American Water Chief Operating Officer Walter Lynch pledged the company’s commitment of $3 million in new research in 2016, on top of the $5.5 billion the company committed to investing in the next five years to help improve service reliability and quality for its customers. He also announced new collaborations with GE and ComEd that leverage innovative technology to better manage water data. The Summit, which is being live streamed, can be viewed here: www.whitehouse.gov/live.

“American Water is committed to addressing America’s greatest water challenges, which threaten the nation’s sustainable water future, through the deployment of investment, technology and expertise,” said Lynch. “We believe in the need for more infrastructure investment, research and innovation, and also in the importance of implementing and harnessing new data analytics to the water industry, which is the focus of the new alliances we are announcing.”

In addition to the company’s $5.5 billion infrastructure investments over the next five years, the company committed $3 million for new research for multiple projects in 2016. One such project is piloting an ultraviolet system for rapid disinfection of water distribution system pipelines following main breaks. This technology could reduce the time for customer interruption while improving public health protection.

The company also announced two new collaborations. American Water and GE have formed a new digital initiative to identify and explore advances in the Industrial Internet of Things to help solve pressing challenges in the water industry and help lead the country toward a smarter water future. The GE-American Water initiative will include the use of GE’s Predix, the world’s first and only cloud platform built exclusively for industry that powers the Industrial Internet.

“We are excited to collaborate with American Water on this new digital initiative. As the world’s leading digital industrial company, GE has been making advances to harness the power of data and analytics — most recently with the launch of GE’s Predix™ platform. The timing is perfect for the GE-American Water alliance to work together to help solve urgent water challenges with the power of the Industrial Internet,” said Ralph Exton, Chief Marketing Officer — Water and Process Technologies for GE Power.

American Water is also collaborating with ComEd on a project in Advanced Metering Infrastructure

(AMI) that will harness new information technologies to better manage water usage and water quality. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) — the ability to read customer meters remotely and to collect, analyze and act on the data — opens a new door to a future of water efficiency.

“We are proud to be partnering with American Water on this important project, which will leverage ComEd's Smart Grid digital network to deliver new value to Illinois consumers," said Anne Pramaggiore, President and CEO, ComEd.  "It's a great example of the smart, collaborative innovation underway in Illinois, as we work together toward producing a clean energy future and sustainable services and resources for customers."

Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. Marking its 130th anniversary this year, the company employs more than 6,700 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 15 million people in 47 states and Ontario, Canada. More information can be found at www.amwater.com.