Today's water industry knows the pressure is on. US Environmental Protection Agency regulations govern processing, with serious legal and public relations repercussions for failure. Stakeholders-whether investors or city council members--demand return, and they don't necessarily care what it takes to get it. Customers want quality water, low prices, and better service, and utilities that fail to deliver may lose much-needed rate increases. The global water industry has total annual revenues of approximately $400 billion. It is estimated that over the next decade more than $600 billion will be spent on worldwide water and wastewater infrastructure.(1) In addition to aging infrastructure, water utilities also face increasing pressure to improve operational efficiency, customer service, and bottom-line performance. On the other side of the ledger, analysts predict the $70 billion US water and wastewater treatment industry will experience significant short- and longterm growth, in the range of 15% over the next four years.(2) This growth will stem from several market factors, including cost savings, more reliable and higher-quality delivery of public services by the private sector, and guaranteed performance and regulatory compliance. The 1998 R.W. Beck Water Resources National Competitive Survey(3) polled more than 220 public utilities serving populations ranging from 80,000 to more than 3 million people. Among the problems cited as critical to the industry were shrinking budgets, stricter regulatory requirements, and public demand for more service and lower rates. With these as hurdles, how can a utility cash in on the $70 billion opportunity at hand? An exploration of lust two of these issues-customer service and the shortage of information technology (IT) professionals to support the systems to fix it-is indicative of just how high these hurdles really are.
