Managing for Sustainable Water Systems
Effective utility management practices are the foundation for building and sustaining the technical, managerial and financial capacity of the drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems that make up the water sector. While infrastructure sustainability is a major part of this challenge, management practices must address all aspects of a system’s operations and maintenance for it to be on a path to sustainability.
EPA’s efforts to promote and maintain sustainable water systems are anchored in two widely accepted management frameworks:
- The Safe Drinking Water Act’s (SDWA) Capacity Development Program: This state program emphasizes assisting public water systems in acquiring and maintaining their technical, financial and managerial capacity to plan for, achieve and continually provide safe drinking water and ensure long-term sustainability.
EPA is working with our partners in a number of areas that support the broader sustainability of water sector systems in line with these frameworks. Explore the links below to get more information about:
Planning for Sustainable Water Systems
Effective planning is essential for water and wastewater systems to manage their operations and infrastructure and ensure the sustainability of the communities they serve. In recognition, EPA issued
Planning for Sustainability: A Handbook for Water and Wastewater Utilities (PDF) (75 pp, 914K, About PDF). The handbook describes a number of steps utilities can undertake to enhance their planning processes to ensure that water utilities are sustainably managed using cost-effective life cycle analysis.
Developed after extensive consultation and input from utilities, states, and other stakeholders, EPA believes utilities that incorporate sustainability considerations into planning consistent with the steps in this handbook will realize many benefits because they will be able to better:
- Optimize environmental, economic, and social benefits by setting goals and selecting projects through a transparent and inclusive process with the community;
- Consistently assess a range of alternatives that address both utility and community goals; and
- Enhance the long-term technical, financial, and managerial capacity of the utility.
