A Strategy Guide for Water Utility Managers and Executives, and a Compendium of Best Financial Practices for Utility Financial Leaders, a "How-To" Guide for Rate and Finance Technicians and a Reference Point for Policymakers Detailing utility financial plans and rate structures, and highlighting how they align with community sustainability goals and utility objectives, is the focus of the fourth edition of Water and Wastewater Finance and Pricing: The Changing Landscape. Working from a historical perspective, this revised and updated text addresses the current pricing and financial management challenges involved in the water and wastewater industry. It builds on the concepts used in the standard manuals of the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, and offers additional insight into the long-term sustainability of water systems. Provides Practical Applications of Finance and Pricing Approaches This comprehensive guide to financial and pricing practices delves into a number of factors that have impacted how utility finances its capital program and how it structures rates to recover revenue requirements. Among numerous management challenges, the book addresses such issues as reduced per capita usage and customer demand, a weak economy, social media, balancing community environmental sustainability with financial sufficiency, an increased focus on water demand management and efficiency, and the concern over rate affordability. The author factors in the rate-setting process, implementing a cost-of-service and rate model as key input in each chapter, and also presents a strong financial and rate plan for achieving long-term sustainability. What’s New in the Fourth Edition: Presents cutting-edge management approaches and initiatives, and the importance of strong financial management in addressing strategic financial and pricing goals Expands the discussion on traditional financing options, factoring in the current economic climate Explores in detail how to integrate risk considerations into the development of effective financial and rate plans. Includes techniques for projecting demand by retail, wholesale and other customer classes Provides methodologies for the development of water reuse, wholesale, and wheeling rates Contains computer models that include scenario builders, rate dashboards, and graphical presentations of key rate and financing concepts Discusses effective public education approaches to gain stakeholder support of a utility’s financial and rate plan Introduces "triple bottom line" concepts into selecting an appropriate financial and rate plan Expands the concepts of water and wastewater financial planning into the stormwater discipline Water and Wastewater Finance and Pricing: The Changing Landscape, Fourth Edition focuses on water and wastewater financial management and pricing, and is geared toward professionals assigned to develop water and wastewater financial plans and rates, senior managers with the responsibility for the long term financial sustainability of the utility, investors evaluating the financial strength of utilities, engineers/consultants planning water and wastewater facilities, academics teaching financial and pricing principles as a part of public policy curriculum, regulators needing to understand the financial viability of utilities under their purview, and policy makers desiring to support effective financial and rate plans for their constituencies.

In the quest to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of water and wastewater services, many communities in the United States are exploring the potential advantages of privatization of those services. Unlike other utility services, local governments have generally assumed responsibility for providing water services. Privatization of such services can include the outright sale of system assets, or various forms of public-private partnershipsâ€"from the simple provision of supplies and services, to private design construction and operation of treatment plants and distribution systems. Many factors are contributing to the growing interest in the privatization of water services. Higher operating costs, more stringent federal water quality and waste effluent standards, greater customer demands for quality and reliability, and an aging water delivery and wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure are all challenging municipalities that may be short of funds or technical capabilities. For municipalities with limited capacities to meet these challenges, privatization can be a viable alternative. Privatization of Water Services evaluates the fiscal and policy implications of privatization, scenarios in which privatization works best, and the efficiencies that may be gained by contracting with private water utilities.

Comprehensive Guide to Water and Wastewater Finance and Pricing, Second Edition provides an updated and expanded examination of the principal aspects of financing and pricing for water and wastewater utilities. Organized in two sections, this new edition covers everything from privatization and setting rate structures to long-term and short-term financing. Traditional and innovative financing methods and pricing structures are provided. The guide also shows how to design appropriate pricing structures to ensure equity and self-sufficiency. What's new in the Second Edition? Comprehensive Guide to Water and Wastewater Finance and Pricing, Second Edition has been significantly revised and expanded to address current trends in the industry. The new edition features expanded discussions of state revolving loan funds (SRFs) as a financing method for local governments, the privatization concept and current incentives and disincentives associated with environmental privatization, the impact on public private partnerships of the President's executive order relating to grant funded facilities, and proposed tax legislation that could have a significant impact on environmental infrastructure financing. The new edition provides a detailed example of how a utility would establish revenue requirements and then structure a set of rates to recover these requirements. It also provides a comprehensive chapter on conservation pricing which discusses the background of conservation rates, advantages and disadvantages, and design considerations of conservation rate structures (uniform rates, inverted block rates, seasonal rates, and marginal cost rates). Results from Ernst & Young's 1992 National Water and Wastewater Survey are supplied as well. Comprehensive Guide to Water and Wastewater Finance and Pricing, Second Edition will be an indispensable reference for water and wastewater management, professional engineers, U.S. government officials, state and local government planners, investment bankers, utility entrepreneurs, directors of water and wastewater utilities, finance managers, utility and environmental attorneys, and financial and rate consultants.

The brand new manual provides step-by-step guidance to determine revenue requirements, analyze rates, develop a financial plan, and design a better rate structure -- even with limited resources and data. Written for small water systems (defined as serving a population of up to 10,000) it focuses on the unique attributes of small systems as related to financial planning and rate design, with the understanding that most data is contained in the current customer billing system, and merely needs to be massaged. With details plus a sample case study, it helps develop a rate structure that emphasizes simplicity and ease of billing, while at the same time recognizes cost recovery and equitability. Also covered are communications with the public, which is integral to a successful rate restructuring, regulatory approval, system development funding, and rate phase-in.

Provides a general overview of the current practices and procedures that should be considered for financing and establishing rates and charges for wastewater collection and treatment systems. It updates the 1984 Edition of Financing and Charges for Wastewater Systems co-published by (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and (American Public Health Association (APHA), then in its second edition, and serves as a guide to wastewater utility managers, municipal officials, engineers, accountants, and rate analysts. Because the material was updated using a more rigorous peer-review process, the publication is now classified as a Manual of Practice. This manual is not intended to provide a simplistic “cook book” or universal approach to cost allocation and rate making. Rather, it is meant to illustrate the various ways of analyzing and allocating the operating and capital costs associated with collecting and treating wastewater and developing rates and charges that reasonably and equitably reflect the cost of service. The manual stresses the complexity of the integrated considerations involved in developing wastewater system cost allocation and rates for services.

This book addresses the technical, health, regulatory, and social aspects of ground water withdrawals, water use, and water quality in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, and makes recommendations to improve the balance of water supply, water demand, and water conservation. The study came about through a nongovernmental partnership between the U.S. National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council and the Mexican Academies of Science and Engineering. The book will contain a Spanish-language translation of the complete English text.