My Top 5 Thoughts Of The Month In Water
1. Energy Efficiency Is Not A Sustainability Initiative — It's Risk Management
During Water Week last month, I couldn’t help but notice there's a framing problem in how the water sector talks about energy efficiency, and a guest column published this week nailed it. What the piece captured so well is that the industry still tends to treat energy reduction as a sustainability metric. While that framing may be useful for ESG reports, it positions energy efficiency as secondary to core operational priorities, which is a dangerously outdated way of thinking. Electricity prices have risen structurally since 2021 and aren't coming back down. U.S. wholesale prices jumped roughly 40% year over year in the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, data centers are competing directly with water utilities for grid capacity in the same regions where water stress is highest. Every kilowatt-hour a utility doesn't consume is one it doesn't have to buy, forecast, or hedge. At that point, energy efficiency is no longer a sustainability story ‒ it’s balance sheet protection! The guest column reinforces that point with real examples across a wide range of operating pressures, from a direct potable reuse facility in Flanders, Belgium, that cut energy consumption by 23% through smarter system design, to an industrial facility in China that reduced energy use by over 50% in its highest-pressure treatment stages. The lesson isn't limited to large desalination projects. These examples make it clear that economics now works at every pressure level, and utilities that haven't reevaluated the numbers recently should do so.
2. Americans Have Spoken: Water Is As Important As The Economy
It’s an election year and for those who like numbers, the 2026 Value of Water Index dropped some genuinely striking data this week. In a survey of more than 1,000 voters, 92% rated reliable water access as "very" or "extremely" important, placing it in a dead heat with reducing inflation and the cost of living as the top national priority. Let that sink in: Water infrastructure isn't a niche policy concern anymore; it’s Main Street economics.
Even more striking, more than a quarter of those surveyed said their water service is unaffordable, which is the highest level recorded since the survey began. And yet, 78% still support directing more state and local funding toward water infrastructure. That tells you voters are willing to pay for this; they just want to know the investment will make a difference. For utilities, the message is clear: Communicate What investment buys, and the public will back you.
3. AI In Water: Stop Chasing The Tool, Start Building The Foundation
The AI conversation in our industry has a hype problem, and an article this week from the engineers at Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility (CVWRF) offered one of the most grounded takes I've read on how to cut through it. Their core insight is simple: Utilities that jump straight to AI software without the right foundation almost always fail to get meaningful results.
CVWRF learned this firsthand as early analytics investments stalled, not because the technology was wrong, but because the data infrastructure, system integration, and organizational alignment weren't there to support it. Their response was to reframe AI adoption around four pillars: data and digital infrastructure, workforce and culture, smart capital project planning, and starting small before scaling.
What I find most compelling is the capital project angle. Rather than waiting for a dedicated "AI project," CVWRF has been weaving digital readiness into standard infrastructure upgrades by deploying smart devices, modernizing switchgear, and improving sensor connectivity so the foundation is already in place when the analytics layer arrives. That's exactly the right instinct for a sector where capital cycles are long and budgets are tight. The AI opportunity in water is real, but it only pays off for utilities willing to do the unglamorous infrastructure work first.
4. Satisfaction Is Up, But The Bill Is Still $100 A Month
Everything costs more, and water is no exception. The JD Power 2026 U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study landed this week, and the headline is better than expected: overall satisfaction rose 8 points year over year despite average monthly water bills holding near the record high of $100.
What I find most interesting is how utilities are improving customer sentiment. They aren't winning customers back by cutting costs because, in most cases, they can't do that without compromising operations or facing backlash elsewhere. Instead, they're doing it through improved communication: explaining charges in plain language, offering flexible payment options, and engaging customers when problems arise.
At the same time, the gap between the highest- and lowest-ranked utilities grew to 219 points on a 1,000-point scale. That's a massive spread, and it tells you that best practices are still far from evenly distributed across the industry. If your utility is on the wrong side of that gap, the path forward likely isn't a rate reduction, but a customer engagement strategy. People will pay for a service they trust.
5. The Talent Crisis Is The Hidden Infrastructure Problem
There's a workforce story in the water industry that doesn't get the headlines it deserves, and another guest column this week put it plainly: The sector has evolved from a mechanical industry into one driven by software and data, but the workforce pipeline hasn't caught up.
With nearly half of water and wastewater plant operators aged 45 or older, and roughly a third eligible to retire within a decade, we're staring at a generational transition that many utilities are not fully prepared for. To take it a step further, the new workforce demands extend far beyond traditional operations roles. Utilities increasingly need data scientists, cybersecurity specialists, automation engineers, and digital systems designers, all of whom are being aggressively recruited by nearly every other technology-driven sector.
Historically, the water industry has relied heavily on recruiting from within, but that approach can't fill the gap at the scale or speed now required. And the solution can’t be just another hiring campaign. At every level, the industry needs to rethink and better communicate what a modern career in water actually looks like. The work is technically sophisticated, socially essential, and increasingly global in impact. We just haven't done enough to tell that story.