WestWater Research joined other members of the water industry last week at the 2026 Water Finance Conference, held at the scenic Fritz Knoebel Events Center at the University of Denver.
This two-day, end-of-summer event provided a forum for utility finance professionals to collaborate, discuss, and educate one another on a range of topics pertinent to water and wastewater utilities and their continued mission of providing safe and reliable services to their respective customer bases.
Discussion topics primarily centered on sustainable rate- and fee-setting practices, regionalization, affordability and customer assistance programs, infrastructure renewal and funding strategies, supply resilience and drought, as well as trends and opportunities related to federal and state funding. Several themes were consistently present across these discussion topics, including:
- Affordability Can Coexist with Infrastructure Requirements. Innovative funding, communication, and rate-setting approaches have been integral to ensuring water agencies can balance the need to recover the costs of providing service with customer bill affordability. For customer assistance program success, it’s important to meet customers where they are; libraries, resource fairs, food banks, and other shared spaces create great program enrollment opportunities.
- Communicating Needs Leads to Success. Water providers across the United States must continue to grapple with drought, water scarcity, and aging infrastructure. Transparent and strategic communication has been an integral tool for service providers to ensure their customers understand the financial commitments necessary for uninterrupted water and sanitation services.
- Data Centers and Nuanced Demands. These businesses are an increasingly relevant topic for water agencies and their respective communities. Their annual water usage behaviors present different types of capacity challenges for the water systems they join. Tailored capital cost recovery approaches and up-front discussions are actions water agencies can take to help ensure these nuanced customer types provide a net benefit to their communities.
Industry leaders continuously highlighted that water agencies and their communities across the United States are experiencing unprecedented realities related to infrastructure, water supply, finances, and economics. Despite this host of challenges, there are tools available for water utilities and industry professionals to leverage in achieving sustainable and affordable long-term solutions.
WestWater Research supports utilities navigating these same challenges every day. Our team provides economic and market analysis, cost-of-service and rate support, financial strategy and socioeconomic studies that help agencies balance affordability with infrastructure needs. Through Waterlitix™, our proprietary water market database, we also help utilities understand supply resilience, long-term water availability and the value of water in the context of regional market conditions and new or changing sources of demand. Whether an agency needs help integrating water supply capital spending needs with sustainable funding strategies, developing equitable rates and capital charges, or preparing for the demands of new large-volume customers like data centers, WestWater brings decades of transaction and valuation experience to the table.
