Manny saves America - Manny Teodoro

Report Card Roundup 💻

Early dispatches from the revolution It’s been a little over two months since the Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Project (WWEP) released the first public report cards for 572 Badger State water utilities. The WWEP publishes

Toward Excellence 💻

Report cards for 570 Wisconsin water utilities strong marks for the Badger State’s capital city Back in 2019 I did something quite foolish: thinking out loud while testifying in a public hearing. When a

Jackson Action 💻

A pricing strategy for safe, sustainable, affordable water Not to be confused with Action Jackson Last month JXN Water announced a simple and bold new strategy to finance sustainable, affordable water in Jackson, Mississippi.

Lien On Me 💻

The fifth pillar of affordability is Delinquency Management An epic battle of good & evil at the water meter This is the final in a series of posts outlining five pillars of affordability strategy

Lighten the Load 💻

It’s hard to ask for help. Utilities should make it easier. Paperwork can be burdensome Water and sewer affordability is a complicated challenge that demands a multifaceted solution; to meet that challenge, I’ve developed

First, do no harm 💻

Administratively costly assistance programs can hurt more than they help perpetually stylish. timelessly true. Water and sewer affordability is a complicated challenge that demands a multifaceted solution; to meet that challenge, I’ve developed five

Towels, not tuxedos 💻

How much assistance should each customer get? When things get hot, coverage matters more than fit Customer assistance programs (CAPs) form the fourth pillar of affordability strategy. Previous posts described the first three pillars

Bill Assistance on Walden Pond 💻

The fourth pillar of affordability is income-qualified assistance Utility bills were very affordable in Thoreau's day! But then, he also died from tuberculosis. ...in which I lay out a framework for water utilities that

Broken politics, broken pipes 💻

Sustainable solutions for Jackson, Mississippi not a sustainable solution National attention is back on drinking water utilities, and once again for all the wrong reasons. As readers of this blog surely know by now,

Of Bills and Balance Sheets 💻

The third pillar of affordability is Rate Design “Affordable” means different things in different contexts This post is the third in a series outlining five pillars of affordability strategy for water and sewer utilities.

The Donut Budget 💻

The second pillar of affordability is Efficiency One of these matters more than the other This post is the second in a series outlining five pillars of affordability strategy for water and sewer utilities. Together,

Defensive Spending 💻

The first pillar of affordability is Quality Gotta count the bottles and the bills So long as water and sewer services operate on a fee-for-service basis, ensuring that these critical services are affordable will

The Revolution Will Not be Legislated 💻

Notes on the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Part III Water professionals of America, unite! Late last year Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, authorizing

The Sweet Spot 💻

How much consolidation is enough? you know it when you hit the sweet spot There’s a growing consensus that there are way too many water utilities in the United States. America’s 50,000 community water

SNAP H2O 💻

Better federal water bill assistance with this one weird trick Click here to read my op-ed on this topic in Newsweek. When Congress created a new $638 million federal Low Income Household Water Assistance

(Un)taxing the Tap 💻

How to stop taxing water It’s hard to know exactly how much money Americans are paying in taxes at the tap, but it’s a lot. Last time I described the variety of ways that

Ready, Fire, Aim 💻

Managing the $638 million low-income water & sewer assistance in the federal COVID relief package Now what? As frequent readers of this page likely know, the COVID relief bill that Congress passed in December

Confluence 💻

Confluence. [kän-flü-ən(t)s]. n. A coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point. Water is a big deal in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania is a swing state. Am I being too subtle? More evidence that,

Art of the Possible 💻

Why water should be the Biden Administration’s top environmental priority Manny's electoral map The Biden administration’s environmental policy priorities are likely to be quite different from the Trump administration’s, and the impending change at

Two Cheers… or maybe just one 💻

for a federal low-income water bill assistance program All watery eyes are fixed on Washington The ink is barely dry on the $2 trillion coronavirus response law, but there are rumblings that a another

Rapid Relief 💻

How the federal government might end shutoffs & keep water flowing during the COVID-19 crisis Can’t do this if your water has been shut off. The COVID-19 crisis has escalated America’s water and sewer

Prevent Defense 💻

Playing to win not to lose in water utility management Nature's Prevent Defense Warning: strained sports metaphor coming. It’s late January, and the National Football League season soon reaches its climax with the Super

The Plan 💻

A five-point proposal to transform the U.S. water sector As daunting as the challenges in the U.S. water sector are, solutions are possible and within our grasp. Thanks to legions of smart, creative scientists

Water Color 💻

Water Sector Reform #5: Environmental Justice Photo: EJCW.org With a major federal investment in water infrastructure possibly on the horizon, the United States has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage that money into a structural transformation