Effective Water Utility Management Practices

Effective utility management practices are the foundation for building and sustaining the technical, managerial, and financial capacity of the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems that make up the water sector.

Effectively managing all aspects of a system's operations and maintenance, regardless of size or location, will help ensure their long-term sustainability and keep the communities they serve strong, safe, and sustainable.

• Effectively Managed Utilities Primer
• Effective Utility Management (EUM) Initiative
• Tools to Implement Effective Utility Management
• Additional Resources for EUM Initiative
• Lean Techniques for EUM
• Water Utilities as Anchor Institutions

Effectively Managed Utilities Primer

In August 2024, EPA and industry partners released a modernized version of the Effectively Managed Utilities Primer to reflect the changes in water utility management over the past several years. This effort was guided by a select group of utility leaders from around the country.

Today’s water sector utilities face a daunting array of tough challenges from rising costs and aging infrastructure. These challenges are becoming more complex, from workforce recruitment to extreme weather events to rapidly evolving technology, as well as building a strong workplace culture.

Recognizing this fact, EPA started working with a range of water associations and utility leaders from around the country to identify what practices helped them achieve success. This effort resulted in the approach called Effective Utility Management (EUM) based on a series of Attributes of Effectively Managed Utilities.

The heart of EUM is the EUM Primer, which allows utilities to chart a course for ensuring their operations are truly sustainable. EUM is now the most widely used water utility management framework in the country.

• Effectively Managed Utilities Primer (pdf) (3.51 MB)

Effective Utility Management (EUM) Initiative

The effective utility management (EUM) initiative takes a broad look at all aspects of water sector system sustainability, from product quality to customer satisfaction. It is supported through the collaboration of EPA and professional associations across the water sector that support drinking water and wastewater utilities to promote EUM. The initiative is based on the EUM Primer and:

• Ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Water Sector Utilities
  This primer targets medium and larger utilities that have seen significant benefits from using EUM to improve their operations. Additional information about this initiative is at Water Effective Utility Management.
• Effective Utility Management in Action - Austin Water Case Study (pdf) (1.46 MB)
  Learn how Austin Water is using Effective Utility Management to move toward sustainable operations and address the needs of their community.

Building on the success of this effort, EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) developed two tools for rural and small water and wastewater systems to help improve organization-wide performance. They focus on operations, infrastructure, customer satisfaction, community sustainability, natural re­source stewardship, and financial viability.

• Rural and Small Systems Guidebook to Sustainable Utility Management (pdf) (1.74 MB)
  This guidebook provides rural and small systems with a series of steps for assessing their operations based on key management areas.
• Workshop in a Box and Supplemental Materials
  These materials help systems and service providers conduct workshops on their own.
• Providing Sustainable Utility Management Strategies and Resources
  View the short video below that highlights the attributes of the Rural and Small Systems Guidebook and its companion material, Workshop in a Box:

Tools to Implement Effective Utility Management

Medium and Larger Systems

• Effectively Managed Utilities Primer (pdf) (3.51 MB)
  This primer provides steps for utilities to assess their operations using the attributes and a series of suggested utility performance measures to gauge progress over time.
• An electronic resource "toolbox" and a full range of information about the EUM Initiative is available at Water Effective Utility Management.
• Resource Guide to Effective Utility Management and Lean (pdf) (2.84 MB)
  This guide provides information and case studies to help utilities use Lean techniques and tools to achieve the outcomes associated with the EUM Attributes. Lean helps identify ways to eliminate waste and improve the overall efficiency of utility operations.
• Webinars about EUM and Lean tools:
  • Effective Utility Management and Lean at Water-Sector Utilities (pdf) (2.31 MB)
    This webinar provides a brief overview describing EUM and Lean concepts and methods and described how to get started with EUM and Lean.
  • Effective Utility Management and Lean/Six Sigma Initiatives, Presentation by the Pompano Bean Utilities Department (pdf) (1.61 MB)
    This webinar highlights the utility’s successes using EUM concepts and Lean methods.
  • Leveraging Utility Performance with Effective Utility Management and Lean/Six Sigma Initiatives, Presentation by Clean Water Services (pdf) (3.85 MB)
    This webinar highlights the utility’s successes using EUM concepts and Lean methods.

  Rural and Small Systems

  • EPA and USDA's Rural and Small Systems Guidebook to Sustainable Utility Management (pdf) (1.74 MB)
    This guidebook provides steps to help systems assess their operations based on key management areas that align closely with the attributes.
  • EPA and USDA's Workshop in a Box
    This tool contains materials and instructions to help rural and small systems and service providers market and conduct workshops based on the guidebook. Supplemental materials include sample workshop presentations, worksheets for participants, sample agendas, and other materials to help systems and service providers conduct workshops.

  Additional Resources for EUM Initiative

  • Moving Toward Sustainability: Sustainable and Effective Practices for Creating Your Own Water Utility Roadmap (pdf) (2.92 MB)
    This document was developed to assist utility leaders in implementing proven and effective practices over time to improve their operations and move toward sustainability, at a pace consistent with their needs and the needs of their communities. It provides utilities of various sizes with a series of proven and effective practices to help achieve the outcomes in EUM. This document supplements the EUM approach and was developed with input from utility managers across the country.
  • Effective Utility Management in Action: Utility Case Examples (pdf) (4.25 MB)
    These case examples inform utilities about how their peer water service providers have integrated EUM into their day-to-day operations and future planning initiatives.
  • Taking the Next Step: Findings of the Effective Utility Management Review Steering Group (pdf) (834.58 KB)
    This report was done by the Steering Group for the EUM collaborating organizations and presents the findings of its review of the current EUM Attributes. The Steering Group identified key areas of change in the water sector since 2007.
  • EPA held several webinars to highlight the efforts of leading utilities to implement “Roadmap” practices:
    • Moving Toward Sustainability Webinar 1 (Community Sustainability) (pdf) (229.53 KB)
    • Moving Toward Sustainability Webinar 2 (Operational Resiliency) (pdf) (251.99 KB)
    • Moving Toward Sustainability Webinar 3 (Stakeholder Understanding and Support) (pdf) (224.63 KB)
    • From Aspirational to Operational: Sustainable and Effective Practices for Creating Your Water Utility Roadmap (pdf) (2.03 MB)

    Lean Techniques for EUM

    Another set of tools help demonstrate the use of "Lean" management techniques. Lean is a business improvement approach focused on eliminating non-value added activity or "waste" using practical, implementation-based methods. Lean can help utilities achieve the outcomes embodied in the EUM Attributes.

    • Resource Guide to Effective Utility Management and Lean (pdf) (2.84 MB)
      This guide is based on input and examples from several utilities involved in both EUM and Lean. The guide explains how these two complementary approaches can be used by utilities to reduce waste and improve overall efficiency and effectiveness.
    • Effective Utility Management and Lean at Water-Sector Utilities (pdf) (2.31 MB)
      This series of EPA webinars demonstrates how Effective Utility Management and Lean techniques can be used by water-sector utilities.

    Water Utilities as Anchor Institutions

    Water utilities can root themselves as anchor institutions within their communities. Anchor institutions are:

    • Public service entities—like hospitals, universities, or utilities–which are tied to a location due to infrastructure or mission.
    • Entities that provide critical services and vital assets to improve economy, health, environment and well-being in communities.
    • Organizations that provide active civic leadership and participate in and add to the public life and character of their community.

    View the following webinar to learn what some water utility leaders are doing above and beyond their day-to-day operations to root themselves as Anchor Institutions within their communities. The webinar is an overview of Anchor Institution Activity Areas from the utility leaders, themselves, about these amazing efforts to create additional benefits to their community.

    • Water Utilities as Anchor Institutions Webinar Presentation (pdf) (15.85 MB)
    • Sustainable Water Infrastructure Home
    • Clean Water Technology Center
    • Planning for Sustainable Water Infrastructure
    • Effective Water Utility Management Practices
    • Water Infrastructure Sector Workforce
    • USMCA Tijuana River Watershed
    • EPA Community Grants