Clean Water Current

(July 10, 2020) – Leading private sector partners of the public clean water sector engaged in the first of a three-part NACWA webinar series titled Partnerships to Reduce the Impacts from COVID-19 on the Water Sector.

Panelists from Xylem, Stantec, Greeley & Hansen, Jacobs, and S&P Global Ratings each sought to shed light on the various ways that public clean water utilities can pursue capital projects given current economic conditions. With COVID-19 still looming large for many municipal budgets, water utilities still need to find a path forward to pursue their infrastructure projects and various other capital-intensive initiatives they had planned before the crisis hit.

Moderated by Kevin Shafer, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the webinar allowed each private sector representative to spotlight different opportunities for growth that many public utilities can still pursue, including WIFIA loans and the low interest rates available through traditional financing alternatives, as bond rating agencies continue to have strong faith in clean water utility finances.  

During the Q&A period, the panelists engaged in an informal discussion on the unique opportunity to pursue capital projects that serve the public in this time of health and humanitarian crisis, the role of technology in helping to do these at lower cost while keeping workers safer, and the additional opportunity to look at new and innovative leadership approaches in the wake of the pandemic.

Speakers included Patrick Decker, CEO of Xylem; Andrew Burnham, Vice President of Financial Services for Stantec; Paul Vogel, President of Greeley & Hansen; Mike Matichich, Financial Service Community of Practice Lead for Jacobs; and Theodore Chapman with S&P Global Ratings.

If you missed the webinar, you may view the slides presented here.

NACWA will be back with Part 2 of the webinar series next Thursday, July 16, from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. EST. Next week’s session will be moderated by Leisa Thompson, General Manager of the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services in Saint Paul, MN and will feature the following speakers:

Nadina Leslie
Chief Executive Officer
Suez

Debra Coy
Partner
XPV Water Partners

Beverley Stinson
Vice President
AECOM

Douglas Varner
Senior Vice President
CDM Smith

J. Anthony Beard
Principal
Concentric Municipal Advisors

Eric Rothstein
Principal
Galardi Rothstein Group

To register, please click here. For questions on this webinar or future NACWA offerings, please  contact David Zielonka, NACWA’s Manager of Media and Communications.