I blogged previously about early results from the annual American Water Works (AWWA) State of the Industry (SOTI) survey that were released at the ACE11 conference in Washington earlier this year.

The SOTI 2011 report has now been released.  2,100 water professsionals in the US and Canada responded to the survey, 80% of whom have worked in the water industry for more than a decade.  57% of respondents work for water utilities and 28% for service providers to the water industry.

Top issues for U.S. respondents

Respondents are asked to identify the most pressing issues in the near term (next 1-2 years), long term (next 3-5 years), and issues that are inadequately addressed

Business factors were identified by over 50% of the US respondents as the top issue in the immdeiate future, by 45% in the long term, and by 35% as inadequately addressed.  The top business factors identified by respondents are financing repairs, replacements and upgrades for aging and deteriorating infrastructure and the imbalance between rates and increasing cost of production,   Respondents also expressed concern about the age of their distribution system and the increasing risk of failure. 

Regulation was second in the short term, but infrastructure was second in the long term and among the issues inadequately addressed. The top regulatory issue was the cost of compliance and the perception that rules were being mandated without considering what other programs may have to be deferred as a result.

Source water and workforce issues were the next most important issues and both were expected to become bigger issues in the long term.  The top source water issues were source water protection, water supply/shortages, conservation, and water reuse.  There was concern about the impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the shale gas industry and pharaceutical and personal care contaminants, which most water treament plants cannot detect and remove, on water quality.

Top issues for Canadian respondents

The top issues in the short term for Canadian respondents were business factors, source water, workforce, and infrastructure.  In the longer term the top issue was source water, followed by business factors, workforce, and infrastructure.  The top inadequately addressed issues were business factors, workforce, and infrastructure.