Opportunities for Utility and Community Group Partnerships

Water utilities across the country are increasingly, and successfully, turning to partnerships with community groups, NGOs, and other cities and utilities to build capacity and advance greater water resiliency in their communities. Capacity issues can limit the ability of water utilities to reach their customers with key messaging, restrict their ability to incorporate community perspectives into their planning, and damage residents’ trust in their services. Partnerships with outside organizations can help alleviate capacity bottlenecks by providing additional support on projects that meet partners’ goals as well as those of the utility.

• Partnering on community engagement can play to the strengths of community organizations who already hold strong relationships with key members of their communities. Drawing on these relationships can help get information to residents who might otherwise be hard to reach, including the intended audience for customer assistance programs or other utility programs that require customer buy-in.
• Partner organizations that already work with residents applying for assistance programs may be well-positioned to support utilities in processing applications for customer assistance programs. Expanding the reach of these programs and reducing barriers to applying can help reduce nonpayment of bills and shutoffs. See our Water Affordability Guide for more on best practices for customer assistance programs.
• Rebate programs for distributed infrastructure like rain gardens or waterwise landscaping on private property can also require significant capacity to administer. Working with partner organizations to regionalize application processes and the administration of these rebates can save effort at the local level and create more efficient programs. In Colorado, nonprofit organization Resource Central works with over 50 water providers and utilities to provide water conservation programs for homeowners at lower cost and at a scale that utilities could not provide alone.