Rob Renner, the Executive Director of the Water Research Foundation (WRF), joins us for a discussion about the work of the WRF. The WRF is a research cooperative, as described by Rob, and pools the resources of 1,000 utilities to focus on researching issues of common concern. Rob provides great perspective on how utilities are dealing with issues like climate change, source of supply challenges, and declining water use.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

Who the Water Research Foundation is and what it does
How the Water Research Foundation determines what to research
How utilities are dealing with the financial issues surrounding declining water use
Why and how water, wastewater and stormwater utilities are converging
How integrated water management is affecting how utilities operate
How climate change is affecting utilities
What strategies water utilities are employing to deal with climate change
What strategies wastewater utilities are employing to deal with climate change
Why utilities are indifferent to the cause of climate change (e.g., natural or anthropogenic)
What types of water strategies utilities will employ in the future as they continue to better understand climate change

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

Water Research Foundation website
American Water Works Association website
Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) website
National Association of Clean Water Agencies website
National Association of Water Companies
Research Triangle Park website
S. Army Medical Service Corps website
Global Water Research Coalition website
United Nations webpage on Integrated Water Resources Management
AMWA paper (2007) on Implications of Climate Change for Urban Water Utilities

Transcript

Click here to download the Transcript for Session 78 of The Water Values Podcast.

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