Water utility leaders contend with forecasting for ‘a moving target’

AWWA’s State of the Water Industry report each year captures water sector trends and top concerns for utilities and service providers across North America. Within the responses of the this year’s report are bubbling concerns about the growing cost of operations and the increasing unpredictability that climate variances bring.

Half of respondents this year indicated they are “very” or “fully” prepared for long-term water supply needs, and that represents a 5-percentage-point drop from the previous year. Sixteen percent already acknowledge they are “not at all” prepared for long-term demands.

“Planning for long-term water security has never been more challenging,” said T.J. Stroebl, market development leader at Kurita America and incoming AWWA president-elect. “Uncertainty is increasing from things like accelerating climate variability and the rapid expansion of tech-based industries. The future is a moving target and hitting it will require more resilient strategies that allow for pivoting on shorter time scales.”

While providing a resilient stream of safe drinking water, many utilities are contending with population growth, droughts, wildfires, and data center development that drain resources at quicker rates than historical precedence.

Currently, 11% of respondents to the State of the Water Industry survey indicate frequent or chronic stress on their local water supply, and one-third teeter on the edge — meaning an increase in withdrawal or a decrease in supply could result in difficulties providing drinking water.

AWWA recently identified eight critical planning priorities for utilities with data centers in their service areas. The top priority: proactive engagement and planning. (See more in the paper, “Cooling the Cloud,” which includes two utility case studies.)

“As a utility leader, you really need to get into that first meeting so you’re a part of the initial land entitlement, all the way through commissioning,” said Benjamin Loveday, assistant county administrator of community operations in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

Compounding the challenges for utility leaders is cost. Rates and fees do not cover the entirety of operations costs, according to the survey. Forty-three percent of respondents said they are “very” to “fully” able pay for operations through standard rates and fees.

To compensate, nearly half (46%) of executives report they are planning to raise rates in the next five years — 24% in the next year.

An additional indication of the increasing financial pressure: 57% of executives reported that rate increases are used “often” or “always” for capital investments, up from 44% in the previous year.

For more on the State of the Water Industry, see the full report on AWWA’s website and the previous Connections story here. To compile the report, AWWA collected 2,171 survey responses in late 2025. About two-thirds of respondents work in water utilities — mostly in systems with at least 10,001 connections — and carry tenure in the field (at least 11 years).