A Report You Should Read

Posted on Jan 26, 2012

A new report, Financing Sustainable Water Infrastructure, is now available on the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread's website.  I recommend this to anyone who is interested in what our water service sector will become, how it might be supported financially, and what has to change between now and then.  The webinar introducing the report was recorded and can be accessed here.

This report summarizes a series of web-facilitated and in-person meetings focused on how to finance the new needs of water management entities (drinking water, storm water, waste water, and possibly other water management utilities). I was honored to be asked to participate in these sessions and did my best to share the expert advice the Fund has received on these issues and the lessons that Fund-supported teams have learned by exploring financial and market-based tools in this sector. This work has been substantial and the learning impressive. Some of these approaches have blossomed. Others have not worked. Some are still a work in progress.

If you want to learn more, a few resources follow.

Ecosystem Services
The Fund has sponsored a number of teams exploring how to identify, package, and exchange water-based ecological services like nutrient removal, sediment control and flow restoration. Case studies produced by a team led by the Environmental Trading Network identify how to structure effective water quality trading programs, how to creatively use assets of state revolving fund programs and how to think strategically about storm water projects. Their work is nicely summarized here.

Alternate Financing Approaches
Two Fund-supported teams evaluated how the cost of financing and/or the cost of subsidies for water infrastructure can be lowered. These teams identified that a number of mechanisms could lower financing costs.

At the federal level, tax credit bonds can substantially lower the costs of water infrastructure to the federal government, as well as lower the costs to those who take on this debt. More on this approach can be found here and in this report (pdf format).

At the local level, use of tax increment financing might allow new sources of capital to flow to restoration activities. More on this approach is available here (pdf format). 

Interestingly, neither project could attract partners to test how these approaches would work on the ground. The teams felt (oversimplifying here), that slightly less expensive financing did not overcome the barriers to action. Financing appears to be necessary, but not by itself sufficient, for the sector to become more sustainable.

New Transaction Models
The Fund has recently supported two teams that are designing and testing new ways to reduce the impacts of run-off in urban and rural settings.  

One team is exploring how to pay for the performance of practices of agricultural producers. Many farms undertake conservation practices like buffer strips and grassed drainage swales to keep nutrients and soils on the land, rather than in the water. This team looks to design payments for what those practices do in the way of improved stream health, so that producers receive higher payments for better performance. More is available here. 

Another team is designing a series of investment grade, coordinated, integrated, distributed storm water management practices in three Great Lakes urban centers. They want to develop a series of site-based rainwater harvesting and management systems, bundle their performance, find private financing, and negotiate sales agreements to public or private entities that will benefit from storm water management. They expect to create a template for such transactions, and an electronic platform to reduce the transaction costs of creating and selling these services. More is available here.

We Want to Hear from You
The Fund is very interested in working with teams to help shape the future of water management in and around the Great Lakes. If you have a new idea you want to try, drop us a note, and let's start a conversation! 

Posted by David Rankin

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Upcoming Web Events: Water Footprinting and Disclosure

Posted on Nov 4, 2011

The sustainability networking group 2degrees (http://www.2degreesnetwork.com/) has just announced two webinars relating to water management.

On Monday, November 28, Ruth Matthews, Director of the Water Footprint Network, will present "The Future of Water Footprinting: New Global Data."  She will share new research by the Network and share case studies of how to use footprinting to drive action that reduces the impact of water use.  For those who have not seen it, I recommend having a look at the Network's most recent analysis of global water scarcity, which incorporates the timing of water use as a driver of impact.  Even water rich regions experience scarcity when timing is considered. That report is available here. (~7MB pdf)  I suspect Ruth will cover this analysis in her session.

Two days later, on Wednesday, November 30, a panel including Marcus Norton (CDP), Will Sarni (Deloitte) and Michael Glade (Molson Coors) will explore the results of the Carbon Disclosure Project's (CDP's) water use disclosure effort.

For further information, including how to register, please visit 2degrees announcement page.  

Posted by David Rankin

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Great Lakes Now!

Posted on Oct 12, 2011

A live feed for Great Lakes Week is available for those who cannot make it to Detroit the week of October 11.

Thanks to the Erb Family Foundation and Detroit Public Television!

UPDATE:

For an archive of sessions, please visit the Great Lakes Now site.

The streaming site is available below (but content is now a bit spotty).

Posted by David Rankin

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Water Summit V- Milwaukee Water Council

Posted on Sep 20, 2011

I spent yesterday at the Milwaukee Water Council's fifth Water Summit. The session was focused in three tracks: Urban Agriculture, Urban Water and the relationship between Water and Energy. By my rough estimate, the event drew nearly two hundred individuals from companies in the "water space" (the Council reports that there are some 120 of these firms in the Milwaukee area), research universities, government agencies, and interest/trade groups. The audience was energetic, engaged and enthusiastic. I'm glad that I was able to be there. I can not cover all of what happened here, but the three items below offer a taste of what the Council is up to. I encourage you to explore each of them. To learn more about the Council, you can listen to coverage of this event on Chicago Public Radio's Front and Center program (focusing on Great Lakes issues) here: http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-09-20/milwaukee-taps-great-lakes-economic-potential-water-summit-92215# or visit them directly here: http://www.thewatercouncil.com/

The morning keynote speaker, Phil Enquist, a partner at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, gave a version of his talk on a 100 year vision for the Great Lakes. If you haven't had a chance to see it, a version from last year is available over on You Tube:

Another very interesting idea is the "Water Entrepreneurship Workshop" that helped budding entreprenuer-teams to articulate business cases for water-related innovations. UW Whitewater's Business School provided templates and experts from XPV Capital, Imagine H20, USEPA and Veolia Water provided assistance, inspiration and advice. The final "pitches" from five teams can be found here: http://www.thewaterworkshop.com/presentations.html  I'm not sure where these business ideas will go, but the workshop approach is very intriguing.

Last, but not least, the lunchtime keynote speakers provided some useful insights into the value of water. David Zetland (http://aguanomics.com) and Jamie Workman discussed how a dose of economic thinking can help both water managers and the rest of us better manage our water. David seemed to suggest that a transition from water "rates" to "prices" is an important means to the end of better managed water, and Jamie offered a unique "earn and trade" (http://ecocloud-sv.com/page/water-ownership-and-aquajust) approach to water management. Keep an eye out for both of these fellows!  It was a very interesting and engaging session.

Posted by David Rankin

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Webinar: Energy-Water Nexus

Posted on Aug 30, 2011

(Design by Sana Sandler / Courtesy Argonne National Laboratory.)

Our third webinar highlighted two projects from Carol Miller and Jeff Edstrom who are exploring the growing connection between water and energy.

Carol Miller is leading a team to develop software that will allow municipal water systems to reduce air pollution and other water use impacts. Water system operators must provide enough water to maintain pressure in the face of daily fluctuating demands. The team is designing algorithms that automatically direct pumps to operate at times when the electric power grid is supplied by the cleanest available sources of energy, avoiding times when it is supplied by more polluting sources. The team is developing and testing this technology in southeast Michigan. The intent is to provide the products to all basin utilities free of charge. 

Jeff Edstrom is leading a team that is shifting the “less water use is better, more water use is worse” sentiment that drives many water conservation efforts, exploring how water conservation can be used more practically in restoration plans. The team is showing how reducing the impacts of withdrawals, discharges, and corresponding chemical usage and power usage can alleviate environmental problems more effectively than simply calling for reduced use. The team is creating assessment tools, including a tool to estimate carbon reductions associated with water conservation, to identify water conservation benefits that allow practitioners to focus on actions that produce better ecological results.

Click here to view the webinar.  Due to technical difficulties Carol Miller’s presentation was re-recorded and is available here.

Posted by Shannon Donley

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Future of Water Infrastructure

Posted on Aug 23, 2011

I have just returned from a three-day expert workshop on Financing Sustainable Water Infrastructure sponsored by the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread.  This is one of the best and most useful gatherings I've attended on the future of water, wastewater, drainage and other "utilities."  Financiers, C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, ngo leaders, and regulators explored what the "utility" of the future would do, how it might be capitalized, and how ongoing services would be paid for.  This discussion is closely allied with two workshops that the Fund recently hosted exploring similar issues.  

Reports on all three will be forthcoming shortly-- watch this space for updates.

Based on the energy and enthusiasm in these sessions, it seems like the utility space is not only ripe for innovation, but that we are already in the early days of transforming what we now call water "utilities."  A few common themes: distributed technologies (think green infrastructure, rainwater harvesting, and agricultural BMPs) are disrupting the natural monopoly of utilities-- opening up new ownership structures and access to different capital sources; revenues, currently from rates (based on cost recovery) can move toward prices (based on creating shared value)--think about on-bill financing of efficiency technologies, point-of-use services (like carbonation or filtration), and buying a share of equity in the utility; integration and consolidation makes financial and performance sense--there is one hydrologic cycle, but our services are fragmented, myopically optimized, and often operate at cross purposes; and last, change is happening-- Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Cleveland are fundamentally rethinking how they deliver services. Some of these things will work, other won't, but there is much learning underway.  What is exciting is the chance to embed positive ecological change in the center of whatever water "utilities" become.

For another attendee's take on the Wingspread meeting, read Peter Malik's post here. Thanks to the Johnson Foundation, American Rivers and CERES for planning this event.

We welcome ideas for projects that try a specific action which will catalyze the changes underway in this industry.  Have one of those ideas?  Let's start a conversation. 

Posted by David Rankin

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Water is not the Next Big Asset Class

Posted on Aug 1, 2011

I recently read an interesting piece by John Kemp (Reuters market analyst) for Commodities Now. It wrestles gracefully with the wraiths of commodity, energy, futurism and water pricing. Read it here.

Posted by Russ Van Herik

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Webinar: Conservation Through Technology

Posted on Jul 22, 2011

An example of resource consumption placed in a socially comparative context. (courtesy Oberlin College)

This second webinar in our series showcased projects from John Petersen and Jon Bartholic, who are using technology, including innovative web-based systems, to change behavior and motivate individuals to be better environmental stewards. With their teams they are testing how information technology can drive Great Lakes restoration.

Click here to view the webinar from January 26, 2011.

Networked Neighborhoods for Eco-conservation (NECO)

Jon Bartholic is leading a team that is developing ways to use social media and mapping technology to drive individuals and neighborhoods to take conservation actions that matter for the Great Lakes. By encouraging friendly competition among neighbors, NECO accelerates installations of rain barrels, rain gardens, porous pavement, and many other green practices that add up to significant improvements in not just local, but larger Great Lakes watersheds.

Real-Time Resource Use Feedback: Empowering Conservation

How do people change their water and electricity consumption when they see the impacts of their use in real time? What makes them use less? How can peer pressure, impact information and friendly competition change behavior? How can that information be systematically collected, analyzed and provided to the user at the time of resource use? A team led by John Petersen is exploring what kind of feedback mechanisms lead to behavior change and reduce environmental impacts. 

Posted by Shannon Donley

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Webinar: New Genetic Tools to Fight Invasive Species

Posted on Jul 13, 2011

 An aerial schematic of the Great Ships Initiative land-based, ballast treatment system testing facility. (courtesy Northeast-Midwest Institute)

We kicked off our first webinar series with two presentations from leading experts on invasive species. David Lodge and Allegra Cangelosi discussed how new genetic tools can be used to better protect the Great Lakes region against invasive species. These tools have been employed in high-profile situations and are shaping decision-making in the region. 

Click here to view the webinar from December 15, 2010.  

David Lodge is professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He is a preeminent authority of invasive species biology. With a grant from the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Lodge and his team are investigating global shipping patterns and developing new genetic probes that can be used to detect invasive species from high risk ports.  

(See our Resource Room post with a video on invasive species in the Great Lakes with an interview with David Lodge (from the American Museum of Natural History).  

Allegra Cangelosi is President of the Northeast-Midwest Institute. In addition to many other roles, Ms. Cangelosi was Principal Investigator of the Great Ships Initiative, a collaboration whose objective is to end the problem of ship-mediated invasive species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System. Ms. Cangelosi has helped pioneer the area of ballast treatment technology development and testing. With funding from the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Ms. Cangelosi is leading a team to develop new genetic tools to detect microorganisms that threaten the health and resilience of the Great Lakes.

Posted by Shannon Donley

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Economics for Environmentalists

Posted on May 17, 2011

Jason Scorse is trying to get those who care about the environment to become economically literate. He's just released a new book: What Environmentalists Need to Know About Economics. Have a look at his recent talk, that covers the basics.

Posted by Dave Rankin

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Fund Work Featured by the American Museum of Natural History

Posted on Mar 4, 2011

David Lodge’s Fund-supported work in mapping global shipping connections was highlighted by the American Museum of Natural History as part of the documentary series Science Bulletins: Current research about the natural world. This video, which includes an interview with Lodge as well as the innovative visualizations he created to explain his research, is also available on the Museum’s website.

David Lodge is professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He is a preeminent authority of invasive species biology. With a grant from the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Lodge and his team are investigating global shipping patterns and developing new genetic probes that can be used to detect invasive species from high risk ports.

Posted by Day Greenberg

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