ENVS6820 - The US Water Industry in the 21st Century

This course is taught by the former Philadelphia Water Commissioner, the CEO of a $1 billion water, wastewater and stormwater utility. The objective of the course is to expose the student to the inner workings and management of the US water industry and the transformation of this industry to a 21st-century sustainable utility model. Influences from new technologies and aging infrastructure, acceptable levels of risk, public and private sector competition, climate change, the bottled water industry, resource recovery, rates and affordability and other issues will be investigated.
The context of the class discussions will center on how politics, vision and leadership are used to create and implement change in a traditional utility structure. The role of environmentalism, infrastructure financing, water/wastewater treatment facility operations, public affairs and media, and designing a capital improvement program are examples of other topic areas.