WLI 2025 Final Project: Resiliency in the Face of Changing Populations
Each year the final project is a major part of the Water Leadership Institute. The WLI 2025 cohorts wrote articles on turning challenges into strengths through resilient leadership.
Regional Population Trends
Regional population growth rates in the United States vary significantly, as depicted in Figure 1. According to Census[1] data, the Southern United States is growing at 1.1%, while the Northeast is declining by 0.1%. Growth is uneven within regions; for example, some cities in Louisiana are seeing notable population decreases despite overall growth in the South, see Figure 1. Utilities nationwide are monitoring these trends locally. Whether utility leaders find themselves planning for—or reacting to—shifts in the populations they serve, navigating such shifts should not leave water leaders feeling like they must make long-term planning decisions using a crystal ball.
Interviews with leaders from four unique utilities across the US revealed that proactive planning, robust data, and teamwork can help leaders overcome challenges related to population growth and decline. While each of the leaders interviewed have varying backgrounds, roles, and responsibilities, common themes emerged from their experiences in addressing population shifts at their utility, including gathering meaningful data, advance planning to characterize water resource needs, and proactive procurement of funding.
Figure 1 Percent Change in County Population in the United States from 2023 to 2024.
Using Data for More Agility in Infrastructure Planning
For some utilities, the city—or cities—within their service area are experiencing a population and industry boom, with data centers, manufacturing facilities, and residential developments popping up on an ongoing basis. Columbus Water & Power (Columbus, OH), El Paso Water (El Paso, TX), and Trinity River Authority (cities in the Trinity River basin, TX) have adapted to this rapid growth through agility and prioritization. Each of these utilities have master plans that are consistently updated with new insights, data, and models. Based on these plans, the utilities prioritize projects to strategically address their growing water demands by using the most up to date data.
Some utilities face the opposite challenge—a declining population—due to a variety of factors. One example is the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA), whose population abruptly declined in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, showing that a natural disaster can change the prospects of a long-term master plan overnight. The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans was left with a reduced customer base and with more infrastructure than is needed to serve the population. In this case, collecting and understanding the data on customer accounts, identifying creative solutions for cost savings, and being transparent with the customer base and decision makers about these figures has been critical for long-term planning.
Addressing Water Resource Needs Through Integrated Planning
When population and industry increase demand for water, utilities may find that the demand has put a strain on their available water supply, especially in areas experiencing the effects of climate change and drought. Water quality concerns, such as those from emerging contaminants, harmful algal blooms, and saltwater intrusion can also impact available water resources and place further strain on the utility. Utility leaders agreed that innovation is the key to meeting water resource needs in the future, regardless of population growth or decline.
Columbus Water & Power, El Paso Water, and Trinity River Authority are all in various stages of evaluating water reuse as a solution for addressing water resource needs. A One Water approach is an innovative integrated planning approach for addressing water quantity concerns, ensuring long-term resilience and reliability, while meeting both community and ecosystem needs[2]. A One Water approach also reflects the transition to a circular water economy in which these water resource recovery facilities are reducing waste, recovering nutrients and energy, and regenerating nature within their communities[3]. Water reuse is one important example of the One Water approach that is helping utilities drive towards a circular water economy.
In New Orleans, saltwater intrusion from the Gulf into the Mississippi River could one day affect the drinking water intake for the city. With limited funds and a looming possibility of the intrusion reaching the intake, the Sewerage and Water Board developed a plan to rapidly deploy treatment should the need arise. Having a plan in place allows the Board to be agile in addressing and prioritizing the utility’s most pressing needs while ensuring fiscal responsibility over limited funds.
Need for Continued Infrastructure Investment
Funding large-scale projects is a challenge for all utilities but can present a unique challenge for utilities with a small or declining population. Such utilities face the effects of climate change, an evolving regulatory landscape, and aging infrastructure while also managing a limited or declining rate base. One opportunity to address funding concerns is to pursue creative approaches for cost savings; for example, in New Orleans, a new energy substation was built near the water treatment plant in an effort to bring down energy costs for the city.
Many utilities across the US rely on federal funding through programs like the State Revolving Fund (SRF) to implement capital improvement projects. Due to low interest rates and longer repayment options, SRF funding can help to offset costs for utilities and their ratepayers over the long term. Columbus Water & Power utilizes SRF funding to keep costs down for ratepayers, while simultaneously increasing overall capacity for population and economic growth in central Ohio.
Conclusions and Acknowledgements
Whether your customer base is growing or declining, leaders at utilities from across the nation are experiencing similar challenges and many have solutions that could be replicated. It was clear in speaking with these four water leaders that while every utility is unique, having a process for proactive project and financial planning, while using data and collaborative input to make decisions will lead to successful outcomes.
Special thanks to Corwin Washington, Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans; Renata Renova, El Paso Water; Tania M. Ho, Trinity River Authority; and John Newsome, Columbus Water & Power for sharing their perspectives and insights on the impact of population growth on their utilities.
References
- United States Census Bureau. Population Change by Region. 2023. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2023/comm/population-change-by-region.html
- The Water Research Foundation. Project 4660: Blueprint for One Water. 2017. https://www.waterrf.org/research/projects/blueprint-one-water
- Water Environment Federation. Closing the Loop with the Circular Water Economy. 2025. https://www.wef.org/contentassets/721b7f43bb8b4cb0a3dd8ce01b6abd1c/circular-water-economy-101-slides.pdf
Authors: Ashley Voskuhl, Sam Broadnax, Arisbeth Ibarra Nieblas, Brandon Scurto, Emma Housman, Krysten Marshall, Powell Hinson
