Municipalities Turn to Aqua for Water and Wastewater Expertise
By Aqua Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development Dan Schuller
For decades, cities and towns across the United States have grappled with the responsibilities that come with owning, operating and maintaining their own water and wastewater systems. For some, rapidly aging infrastructure has proven prohibitively expensive to maintain or replace. Others are struggling to keep up with increasingly stringent state and federal drinking water and wastewater regulations. Even municipalities that operate their water and wastewater systems successfully are finding it more and more challenging to maintain balanced budgets when faced with managing a myriad competing priorities like roads, bridges, parks, libraries, police and other community needs.
With more than 130 years of technical expertise in the water industry, Aqua is proud to provide a solution to municipalities facing these challenges. Since 2007, we have acquired 174 water and wastewater systems, including more than 20 municipal systems – helping us to become one of largest water and wastewater utilities in the nation. By leveraging our compliance expertise, purchasing power and operational efficiencies, Aqua has infused needed capital and resources into the systems we aquire to rehabilitate and operate the infrastructure required for clean drinking water and wastewater.
For Aqua, the business model is about more than growth – it also allows us to do our part to strengthen water and wastewater infrastructure in communities across the states we serve. It’s a responsibility about which we feel strongly – and it’s why Aqua will invest more than $450 million in water and wastewater infrastructure in 2017 alone, after having invested $1.5 billion in capital improvements over the past five years.
The opportunity to sell their systems to Aqua is a win-win for local governments and customers, too. Municipalities are alleviated from the responsibility and cost of maintaining their own systems, and customers also benefit from Aqua’s investment in their town’s infrastructure, and the peace of mind that comes with knowing a trusted company is ensuring the reliability and quality of their water or wastewater service, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Plus, many municipalities are able to use the proceeds from the sale of their systems for other important needs within their communities.
We’re proud of the role we’re playing in improving our nation’s water and wastewater systems. To learn more about Aqua’s partnerships with municipal water and wastewater utilities and our ongoing commitment to investing in America’s infrastructure, please keep an eye out for updates on the Aqua Blog.
