AWWA INF53985

It's a fact that public water utilities need money and lots of it to repair andreplace aging and failing pipes, to upgrade treatment technology, to attract andretain qualified staff, and to meet ever-changing requirements of state andfederal laws, like the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. To achieve thesegoals, the savvy utility executive knows the value of a skilled communicationsteam properly equipped with a state of the art communications toolbox. Utilitiescan no longer rely on the good old standby of a monthly bill stuffer to get theirmessage out to customers. They need the right tools to reach today's customersand to respond to their questions in a timely and efficient manner. And, just asthe tools of distribution crews, laboratory staff, and treatment plant operatorschange, so do the tools of the utility's communicators. This paper focuses onfour relatively new tools finding their way into utilities' communicationstoolboxes: an email list service; a web page; a facilitator for stakeholdermeetings; and, a charette prior to beginning a capital project.