The disconnect between workforce and digital initiatives
While 76% of utilities identified employees as the most critical stakeholder for implementing digital solutions...
they ignore workforce development and human resources as drivers or opportunities for digitally enabled innovation.
Operational
Efficiency
Regulatory
Compliance
Affordability
Customer
Expectation
Quality
Resiliency
Workforce
Development
Recruitment
Source: Arcadis water utility survey
0%
0%
Employees
Technology Providers
Consultants
Peer Utilities
Source: Arcadis water utility survey
76%
Asset
Management
Customer
Service
Treatment & Delivery
Information Management
Human Resources
0%
Source: Arcadis water utility survey
Water Resource Management
That might be why only 20% of water utility employees believe they can engage in innovative thinking at work.
Innovation plans that focus solely on potential digital solutions leave a lot of unrealized value on the table. A mindset that embraces change is stronger than any one tool. Encouraging constant exploration will keep your organization on the innovation forefront.
Innovation success stories
Building the future workforce
Moulton Niguel Water District
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In 2012, Moulton Niguel Water District’s (MNWD) Board of Directors recognized that a confluence of issues was creating low morale. As HR Director Gina Hillary puts it, “They could see that there was a lot of disruption happening, and labor negotiations were contentious.” To build a more collaborative, engaging culture, incoming General Manager Joone Lopez met directly with every employee to identify and prioritize improvement areas.
MNWD blended proven methods with new processes and digital resources to spur progress. HR adopted a recruiting tool to target desirable talent, using it to fill more than 100 recruitments over a 3-year period. The IT team developed an onboarding network containing resources and training modules that made new hires feel welcome and empowered in their role.
Director of Finance and Water Resources Drew Atwater said the enhanced recruitment established a foundation for innovation. “We’re looking long-term. We look for people who have experience using programs like Python, who look at the open source community, and who are nimble enough to have multiple skillsets.”
Building the future workforce
Moulton Niguel Water District
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Embracing digital transformation and disruption, Aarhus Vand
“Automation is a big asset for the utility business. We want to capture in real time what’s going on in the field and at our facilities so we can optimize and improve the processes – from wellfield to tap, from rainfall to effluent,” Kjelds noted. The utility leverages GIS alongside field IoT sensors to build data-informed plans and respond quickly to customer needs.
“Customer service is an indicator for overall performance, so we track that to see how our transformation is working,” Kjelds said. Digital monitoring allows for more proactive service responses, and giving customers access to usage data helps them determine the specific services they need. The utility even leverages social media to bridge connections with customers beyond monthly bills. All play a role in increasing overall customer satisfaction.
Environmental impact is a key measure of progress as well. Aarhus Vand’s wastewater treatment plant at Marselisborg in Aarhus is 100 percent net energy positive. It uses that energy to power operations elsewhere, including returning electricity to the power grid and excess heat to the city’s district heating system. The unique ability to reuse and recover materials from the waste stream, coupled with future projects to turn wastewater itself into an asset it can distill and make useable, makes Aarhus Vand stand out among water sector leaders.
Digital innovation can elevate a water utility’s role in its community, and Aarhus Vand is an excellent example. “We want to stay relevant and avoid a situation where someone else disrupts the industry,” Chief Digital Information Officer Jesper Kjelds said. “If disruption is needed,” he continued, “we want to be leading a part of that transformation.”
Already ahead of the curve, the utility plans to make extended use of AI, machine learning, and perhaps even blockchain into future projects. Still, the power of people is paramount.
“It’s not all about bits and bytes and tech, there’s also a large cultural component to it,” Kjelds said. “People feel great about being able to innovate and explore. They are embracing the digital transformation because they too see that we can do things better and smarter. We believe that we, with our deep domain knowledge and experience, can exploit new IT technologies to greatly increase our productivity and develop solutions for the utility and our customers.”
Embracing digital transformation and disruption Aarhus Vand
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Making collaborative, data-driven decisions, Mohawk Valley Water Authority
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Developing customer-focused solutions, Halifax Water
“The Port of Halifax receives a lot of cruise ships throughout the year, which take on huge amounts of water when they come to port. During one visit, an unannounced ship showed up to avoid a hurricane, and by looking at our data we thought there was a major leak.
“This inspired us to work with the Port to monitor leaks in their system downstream of the billing meter in real-time, because we both could benefit. We developed a web portal application where they could track their usage, and we showed that discovering only one leak each year would ensure the application paid for itself. It was serendipitous — we basically stumbled into it.”
Customer-focused innovations are strengthening, not replacing, their workforce. While some areas such as the meter division might reduce, job losses will be managed through attrition and retraining. In fact, new positions might be created as ways of working evolve.
Yates’ advice to other organizations on a similar path is to encourage planning, continuous collaboration and coaching. “You have to understand what your staff is ready for and keep working until everyone is comfortable,” he said. “Some early adopters will be super users, but you also have to support the stragglers.”
Halifax Water has been spearheading digitally enabled innovation for nearly two decades. In 1999, they became first North American utility to adopt the International Water Association water loss control methodology, applying district metering to their distribution system and using SCADA monitoring to track waterflows and consumption.
According to General Manager Carl Yates, embracing data created monumental change. Adopting a data historian was a catalyst to aggressively pursue leakage reduction.
“Our key metrics are the infrastructure leakage index and real losses measured in liters per service connection per day. We started at a 9 in 1998, and we got it down to a 2.5 by 2008,” Yates said. “We’ve recovered over 40 million liters per day in leakage, and we save about $650,000 each year at that level. We’re pretty close to what we call our economic level of leakage.”
Future advancements will center on evolving customer expectations. “[Customers] want quick responses, and they also want to understand more about their water bill,” Yates said. One case highlighted how innovation can create unanticipated benefits for utilities and users alike.
Developing customer-focused solutions
Halifax Water
The software has been so effective that Tangorra believes they could market it to other utilities. “Instead of us holding everything in, the cloud allows us to leverage our system for other organizations. We can help utilities that struggle with the information flow.”
Looking ahead, MVWA is working with a communications group to strengthen its presence in the community with online educational resources and partnerships with organizations like the Department of Health. There will be a focus on commercial revitalization efforts as well. “We want to be prepared to respond to the business climate,” Tangorra said. He envisions an online platform that helps commercial developers seamlessly coordinate their water needs and engage with the organization.
For other utilities developing innovation plans, Tangorra highlighted the importance of flexibility. “Give yourself options. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself into one path. And you must be prepared to call a project stop. You might reach a line where, despite what you’ve invested in time, energy, money, etc., you must recognize that if the project isn’t headed where you thought it was, then it’s time to change direction.”
Economic tailwinds are giving Mohawk Valley Water Authority (MVWA) the chance to act on its urge to innovate. Commercial developments and state investments have presented new opportunities for the utility to partner with the city. According to Director of Water Quality Phil Tangorra, the internal desire for change was palpable.
“It was organic, and it came up from many departments around the same time,” Tangorra explained. “Water Quality wanted to better manage the quality of the water moving through distribution system, Engineering wanted to control water loss, IT wanted to capture work that’s done in the field, and so on.”
Its approach was to innovate using data-centric decision-making. Utilizing an in-house software that links its customer database to its AMI, the utility can provide more useful information both to the public and its board. When sensors indicate a threshold has been hit, the system generates a report for investigation. The real-time feedback and system compatibility improved overall customer outreach. “If customers call and question how much water they’re using, we can give it to them in detail. This helps us connect the customer with better water conservation techniques,” Tangorra said.
Making collaborative, data-driven decisions, Mohawk Valley Water Authority
Primary drivers for innovation
Digitally enabled innovation opportunities
Critical stakeholders required for successful digital transformation
Employee development evolved as well. The organization reconfigured performance assessments, advancement opportunities and cross-training efforts. And even as new digital solutions arise, leaders are committed to retaining staff rather than replacing them with technology.
Working across departments, each project is fueled by the best ideas, not a particular person or group. “In government, it’s hard to avoid hearing, ‘We’ve always done it this way,’” Hillary said, “But here, new ideas are encouraged and, in many cases, required.” Seasoned veterans and younger staff work hand-in-hand to leverage new tools effectively. The collaboration also supports a knowledge transfer program for when employees retire or move on to a new position.
These efforts helped Moulton Niguel place 1st among mid-size workplaces according to the Top Workplace of Orange County program in 2018, an impressive feat for a public utility. MNWD’s flexible approach is building a resilient workforce that can evolve in step with new technology and changing customer needs.
“Prospective employees come to water utilities because they believe in the mission and to give back to the community,” Atwater said. “They come to Moulton Niguel because of our culture of innovation and how we carry out that mission.”
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2/4
3/4
4/4
0%
0%
Operational
Efficiency
Regulatory
Compliance
Affordability
Customer
Expectation
Quality
Resiliency
Workforce
Development
Recruitment
Source: Arcadis water utility survey
Primary drivers for innovation
0%
Asset
Management
Customer
Service
Treatment & Delivery
Information Management
Water Resource Management
Human Resources
Source: Arcadis water utility survey
Digitally enabled innovation opportunities
The disconnect between workforce and digital initiatives