Water 2050

Finance & Affordability


Water 2050
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Economics Think Tank Discussion
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Economics Think Tank

Water 2050: Finance & Affordability

The envisioned world of 2050 will include:

  • Financial and reinvestment strategies that ensures the water industry’s ability to provide continued and reliable service.
  • Water being valued in more than financial terms, going beyond pricing, recognizing water as a merit good and its power politically and socially, for a sustainable future.
  • Funding for water that is based on the full cost of the service, where ‘full cost pricing’ coupled with non-price methods (to ease the economic burden on low-income and disadvantaged communities, as with the SNAP or Affordable Connectivity Program) will be commonplace.

Recommended Actions

The short-term recommended actions for the Finance & Affordability Strategic Priority include:

  1. Rapidly identify and share financing and funding resources for resilient systems of the future.
  2. Establish a pricing model and set rates that covers all the costs of water service while advancing affordable access and recognition of the human need for water.
  3. Promote the integration of utility performance standards that support better technical, managerial, and financial practices and align utility sustainability plans and economic growth plans.
Video Economics of the Future of Water:Economics
2050 Video

Economics of the Future of Water

In 2050, how will we keep water affordable — without compromising reliable, equitable access to clean, safe drinking water and sanitation? Economics is a central consideration for the future of water.

See All Water 2050 Videos

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Water 2050 Think Tank Reports

Economics Think Tank: 
A diverse group of influential thinkers from within and outside the water community put forth nine recommendations for an economically sustainable water future in the third think tank report of the Water 2050 initiative.

The 26 participants in the Water 2050 Economics Think Tank, which took place Jan. 23-25, 2023, at the Penn Club in New York City, included highly respected voices from the water and wastewater utility, manufacturing and consulting community, as well as regulators and academics, CEOs and climate advocates and infrastructure and financial services experts.

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Economics Think Tank
The Penn Club, New York, New York, January 2023

Sustainability Think Tank

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