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PPP Advocates to U.S. Mayors: ‘Help Us, Help You’

By Jessica Knight

Laurent Auguste of Veolia Water, Rich D’Amato from CH2M HILL – OMI, American Water’s Bill Patterson and Mark Kroplilak of United Water present at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Water Council, held in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2 and 3.

It seems like everyone’s talking about public-private partnerships (PPPs) these days, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors is no exception. With the economy putting the squeeze on city budgets and the promise of substantial federal funds a distant memory, elected officials hunt for ways to fill coffers while at the same time tackling serious water infrastructure challenges.

Mayor Jennifer Hosterman of Pleasanton, Calif., and co-chair for last week’s Mayors Water Council, held in Washington, D.C., set the tone for Wednesday’s meeting by saying, “I’m from California and we have water issues.” Grins and sympathetic nods could be spotted from each of the four gentlemen set to present on the topic of “Increasing Efficiencies and Reducing Costs: Public Benefits of Partnering with the Private Sector.” Familiar faces to NAWC members and staff, each served as an advocate for investor-owned water companies including Laurent Auguste of Veolia Water, Rich D’Amato from CH2M HILL – OMI, American Water’s Bill Patterson and Mark Kroplilak of United Water.

Each spoke to the 16 mayors and their staffers in attendance, as well as to representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Black & Veatch Corporation and Montgomery Watson & Harza, about the untapped resource of creating a long-lasting partnership with the thousands of water professionals employed by companies in the O&M sector. It was estimated that only 9 percent of U.S. municipalities were engaging in some type of true water PPP now, a stark difference to leading superpowers like Europe and China, where partnerships represent the vast majority of the water service segment. This statistic served as an optimistic framework for the discussions to follow; it also put NAWC’s broadening education mission into perspective for me, as I’ll be aiding the Partnership Committee shift the public conversation from this idea of sheer water privatization to instead creating synergies with city officials that will lead to better water quality for all.

Auguste noted how special Veolia’s 18-year partnership is with the sewage plant of Schenectady, N.Y., which is under the charge of Mayor Brian Stratton, the other Mayors Water Council co-chair overseeing the panel. Mayor Stratton praised Veolia on their ability to find solutions for what he called “stinky problems,” and then later D’Amato, Patterson and Kroplilak showcased fantastic case studies of their own, featuring staircase graphs and explaining how pairing with their companies almost always ensured at least a 5 percent cost savings in efficiencies. Upon hearing these success stories, one of the mayors spoke up; it was Akron Mayor and past president of the U.S. Council of Mayors, Don Plusquellic.

Mayor Plusquellic explained how he was once intrigued by the prospect of partnering with a private identity but the combative actions and accusations of what he called “a whacked-out national group” soured him on the idea. He challenged the presenters to utilize the power of one of their own national groups to distribute positive stories of how PPPs are helping in the fight to rebuild city water infrastructure. Later at the reception, along with NAWC Executive Director Michael Deane, I spoke to the mayor about our new communications initiatives meant to help with that very thing.