Consumer Outreach Features, Insights, and Analysis
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Keeping Your Customers Informed With A Customer Portal
4/7/2020
Water services are no doubt essential, especially during a pandemic when more people are staying home, and cleanliness is a top priority. Ease your customers’ minds during these uncertain times by keeping communications flowing. A customer portal is a perfect way to stay in touch. Here are some ways to use this tool to help your community through this uncertain time.
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Many Water Utilities, One Message
3/25/2020
Across the nation, people are rising to the challenge presented by COVID-19. Water utilities and government agencies have focused on key messages about water, such as tap water is safe to drink and we’ll be there when you need us.
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Water Authority Uses Clamp-On Ultrasonic Flow Meters To Avoid Peak Limit Surcharges
3/25/2020
A suburban township in the upper Midwest United States buys their drinking water from a major municipal water district. The township’s water distribution system network has four connections to the larger municipality’s water transmission main. The municipality has many wholesale customers and has implemented contracts with each customer to limit the peak flows and the time of day in which they may occur. If a customer exceeds the limit, they are assessed significant surcharges.
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When It Comes To Water, Is Hindsight 20/20?
3/24/2020
Back in October 2018, when I started looking to the past to gather wisdom from what people have said about water through the ages, I figured when it comes to water, it’s 50/50 that hindsight is 20/20. So I needed a large sample size. I started collecting quotes from all sorts of people — scientists and screenwriters, poets and philosophers and politicians and pop singers — hoping to provide insight into water and the issues around it. (For more details on my journey, see last year’s World Water Day post.) Some of those quotes can even help us peek into the future.
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Domestic Water Use Grew 600% Over The Past 50 Years
3/10/2020
Humanity’s thirst for freshwater has more than doubled since the 1960s, keeping pace with growing populations and economies. One-quarter of the world now faces extremely high water stress, where more than 80 percent of the available supply is withdrawn every year.
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Digital CX: How Utilities Can Exceed Customer Expectations
2/26/2020
Most people don’t expect a good digital customer experience from their utility providers. While leading retailers, insurers, and banks have all put serious resources into digital customer experience (CX) and reaped the rewards, utilities have been slower off the mark.
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Water Industry Responds To Proposed LCR Revisions
2/21/2020
With more than 50,000 community water systems (CWS) in the U.S., it is amazing that only 285 individuals had logged public comments on the U.S. EPA’s proposed Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) Revisions by the February 12, 2020 deadline. Yet, what those respondents had to say could have a big impact on how we deal with lead in drinking water moving forward. Here is a cross-section of the industry’s response.
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LCR Revisions: Speak Now, Or Forever Hold Your Peace
1/29/2020
Are you completely ready to implement the scores of changes in the U.S. EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), exactly as proposed? If not, act quickly, because time to register constructive feedback before the February 12th deadline is running out. Less than three weeks before the end of the comment period, the EPA’s webpage for feedback displayed only 131 public submissions regarding the proposed regulations.
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LCR Revisions Push Systems Into Uncharted Waters: Schools & Childcare Facilities
1/27/2020
Here are some thought-provoking considerations for water testing at K-12 schools and the utilities, government officials, and engineering firms who serve them.
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Preparing For Lead-Service-Line Inventory And Replacement Requirements
1/27/2020
With all the new facets of the revised Lead and Copper Rule revisions (LCRR) — increased sampling requirements, lead service line (LSL) inventory and replacement, new communications requirements, and school/childcare-facility monitoring — any water utility that has not yet started making preparations is at risk of non-compliance now that the new rule has become law. Here are some factors to consider when reviewing LCRR requirements and conducting LSL inventories and replacements.