Water System Management and Decision-­‐Making: Is it Time for Change? Date: October 17th 2013 Location: Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St. Madison, WI (Room 313—please check visitors board upon arrival), UW-­‐Madison Campus Brought to you by the Wisconsin Public Utility Institute About the program: The water utility industry in Wisconsin is a rising cost industry, facing increasing challenges to remain financially viable and provide high quality, affordable service. These challenges include: industry fragmentation, mounting infrastructure needs, rate design that does not reflect replacement costs, and loss of customer demand due to conservation and economic pressures. The purpose of this forum is to gain an understanding of the costs drivers in the industry and to explore barriers and opportunities for moving forward to meet new demands. This session will address options for meeting the challenge of rising costs associated with any number of issues now facing an aging water system infrastructure. One promising option is to pursue cooperation among systems to achieve benefits of scale and best use of resources yet still maintaining your system identity. Who Should Attend Logistics §
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Water System Managers Local Elected Officials – League of Wisconsin Municipals Legislators and Staff Academics and Consultants working Engineering, Urban Design, Hydrologists League of Women Voters and other Citizen Groups Attorneys Graduate Students Site: University of Wisconsin-­‐Madison, Pyle Center Date: October 17, 2013 Credits: 6.75 CLEs .7 CEUs Fee: $20 Gov’t, $65 WPUI Member, $85 non-­‐member Time 8:15 Topic, Presenter Welcome Jeff Mayers, President WisPolitics 8:30 National Overview of Water Industry: Matt McCaffree, Government Relations Director, National Association of Water Companies 9:30 Environmental Perspective in Wisconsin: Jill Jonas, DNR Objective Introduce the topic and outline for the program • Cara Lee, Director, WPUI introduces Jeff Mayers, Program Moderator • What are the national water industry trends: topics include price and cost or water, infrastructure needs, environmental and financial regulation, conservation, water quality, access, cooperation, and privatization. What does the future look like nationally and how might this affect Wisconsin? Specific trends and challenges for Wisconsin utilities: Review of what the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts mean for Wisconsin utilities with an emphasis on how, when and where regional cooperation might work to everyone’s benefit. • The DNR will also cover funding sources for managing environmental/public health concerns: The Safe Water Loan Program—where is the funding coming from, how long will it be in place? Who is eligible? DNR’s Revolving Loan Programs 10:15 10:30 12:00 12:45 1:00 1:45 2:45 4:00 Break Panel of Wisconsin Utilities: Dave Vaclavik, Central Brown County Water Authority Mike Rau, Water Consultant, Dave Lawrence, WRWA Nilaksh Kothari, Manitowoc Public Utilities (replacing Tom Heikkinen, Madison Water Utility) Lunch & Networking The Regulatory Perspective: Phil Montgomery, Chair, PSC Paul Foran, Former Illinois Commissioner Robert P. Ryall, Principal, B&V Management Consulting What are the challenges for enhancing cooperation in Wisconsin? Does Wisconsin’s regulatory framework discourage cooperation? This session will explore the challenges and approaches for specific utilities in Wisconsin and will highlight the benefits and drawback of various approaches. Each panelist will provide a 10-­‐15 minute overview of how regionalization has been used to overcome specific barriers in their situation, and what the outcomes were. The session will then be open to questions from the audience • Update on how the Central Brown County Water Authority is working—pros and cons since starting the effort. • Challenges for recognizing opportunities to make changes in operations or management structure • Barriers to increasing cooperation among utilities small to mid-­‐
sized Utilities and possible opportunities to overcome barriers • Barriers to increasing cooperation among larger utility systems and possible opportunities to overcome barriers •
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Overview of the economic importance of water to Wisconsin economy and jobs, and utility industry trends and challenges. Responses to managing rising costs from across the nation with different business models. The Changing U.S. Water Industry • Industry Challenges • The Rising Cost of Water • Where Will the Money Come From? • Industry Solutions • The Trend of Regionalization • Is Private Investment Coming to Water? Wrap Up & Discussion -­‐ Responding Panelists will have an opportunity to briefly summarize their thoughts to the Day—Wisconsin Response: and include discussions on how to deal with changing regulatory and Kira Loehr, Citizens Utility Board financial demands that are coming in the next few years. Then, the Lawrie Kobza, Boardman & Clark session will be opened up for questions from the audience. LLP. Jeff Ripp, PSCW Dave Lawrence, WRWA Mike Rau, Water Consultant Jill Jonas, DNR Adjourn Save the Date! • Next Water Session: Water and Electricity, Spring 2014. Operations costs, Low head hydro