It’s no secret that communities across the United States face tight city budgets with growing demands. Many don’t realize that partnering with a water and wastewater company like Veolia can provide solutions for infrastructure that don’t require a tax increase.
For many communities, that kind of infrastructure financing just does not exist. There’s no money for tax increases, and no help can be expected from state and federal governments. Yet smart urban leaders know that while all this is true, financing government is still their priority.
Veolia is the leading provider of water and wastewater services to municipalities, and in serving more than 8,500 communities globally, we’ve developed creative solutions to help cities maintain their water and wastewater infrastructure at an optimal level. We’ve also learned that many communities are not aware that they have options. When partnering with a water and wastewater company, the key is finding the right partnership model to meet your community’s needs, whether you’re looking for cost savings, improving water quality or energizing your existing talent.
THREE WAYS A WATER PARTNERSHIP CAN HELP MAINTAIN WATER AND WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE
A partnership can be designed to produce innovation – Milwaukee, Wis. is on track to save $35 million over a 10-year contract term, using an operations & maintenance (O&M) contract to meet the wastewater needs of 1.1 million customers in 28 municipalities. Veolia announced a $1.5 million R&D program to support Great Lakes clean water initiatives and SWMBE purchases were 16 percent above an initial goal of 20 percent. By designing its contract to meet high-quality standards, Milwaukee has achieved new levels of service.
It can include asset management to extend infrastructure life - In a partnership with the private sector, Gresham, Ore. uses a comprehensive business process to protect expensive assets, and is on track to reduce its capital maintenance and replacement costs by 15 to 25 percent, with a 75 percent anticipated reduction in preventive maintenance.
A consulting-based partnership can empower your people to improve existing processes – New York City uses a pioneering partnership model with Veolia to benchmark against other leading utilities and expand the strength of its public workforce. This partnership model has produced savings and revenue enhancements equal to 10% of the agency’s operations budget, helping the best get better and combining the know-how of local, public employees with the expertise of the private sector.
CALL AN EXPERT TO TALK ABOUT HOW TO EFFECTIVELY PARTNER WITH A WATER COMPANY
Rob Nicholas
Vice President Municipal Development
Rob is a problem-solver who has worked with water and wastewater utilities for more than thirty years, leading teams on infrastructure efficiency, financial projections and new product development. He loves working with cities to solve problems that other people say are “unfixable,” and understands that city managers often don’t have time to fix things and need an extra hand to help them get there. He’s available to talk through the different partnership models that are available to communities.
CONTACT ROB NOW
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR PARTNERING WITH A WATER OR WASTEWATER COMPANY
- 2015 Guide to Financial Literacy – Governing Magazine’s guide provides information on managing the financial health of a jurisdiction.
- Infrastructure Report Card – The American Society of Civil Engineers maintains this report card to showcase the current state of U.S. infrastructure
- 7 Keys to Successful P3s – a series of tips pulled together by the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships.
VEOLIA RESOURCES ON FINANCING GOVERNMENT WITH CREATIVE SERVICE MODELS
- Peer Performance Solutions model
- Operations & Maintenance model