How-To Guide: Part Three
Planning & Partnership
Learn about important tips on planning and partnership,
which includes working with tribal communities.
States stressed that identifying the applications and communicating the value of boundary data is critical to secure approval from policy-makers and support from local systems. Many state water agencies and water systems alike are already overworked and understaffed, so “aligning use with interest” is key.
Practice Tip - Make it Less Abstract:
Creating a few example service area maps can help people conceptualize the project
and secure buy-in from higher ups within state agencies and from local stakeholders.
Clarify the “Why”
We’ve heard from dozens of stakeholders and here are some examples of “why” that may be applicable to your program:
The data will help to improve specific state policies and programs.
Accurate boundaries can make applications for state funding easier for water systems to complete.
The data will help states prioritize and spend infrastructure funds.
The data will help state agencies engage in supply and demand forecasting.
The data will help state agencies with outreach.
Comprehensive, accurate service area boundaries facilitate communication between water systems as well as between state agencies and water systems in the cases of earthquakes, chemical spills, etc.
Water systems that know their service area can benefit from information about nearby service areas - sharing this data can support grant applications and inform regional partnerships to improve resiliency to long-term stressors and respond to short term emergencies.
Water systems that do not know their service area can benefit from mapping and sharing data - the data can improve operations, rate design, support grant applications and inform partnerships.
Pay attention to tribal representation.
Water systems that serve tribes, but are not owned by tribes, may publish data that is not accurate or is outdated - sometimes the data will show a certain water system serves a tribe, but when you speak to tribal personnel, they share that they don’t in fact receive water from that system. This has rippling effects wherein the inaccurate data at the local level is added to state-managed databases and then comprises analyses of states, policymakers, and researchers about access to safe drinking water.
Interviews with states revealed a set of planning activities that could help efforts to develop water service area boundaries:
Demonstrating your incentive for the data will encourage better data quality because state stakeholders understand its importance and use. Water systems themselves are always balancing scarce time between countless tasks, so one extra request from the state needs to be well justified.
Articulate how you will use the data.
The creation of a few example service area maps can help people conceptualize the project and secure buy-in from higher ups within state agencies and from local stakeholders. An abstract description of the uses of service area boundaries without anything to show will fail to gain support.
Projects will garner more support if their value can be concretely demonstrated.
Anticipating Questions — Homeland Security
States can and have successfully addressed any security concerns with making this data public. Though some water systems had security concerns about sharing their service area boundaries, state officials were able to assuage these concerns by clarifying that they did not need any infrastructure information, such as water lines or intakes - it is simply the boundary of where each system serves. Also, technical solutions such as data masking can ensure privacy and security if there are particular components administrators prefer not to share publicly.
For example, if a water system sends a photo of a physical map that was originally created using GIS software, it takes more time to turn that photo back into a digital GIS file, and likely introduces errors and reduces the accuracy of the final product. Requesting GIS files whenever available reduces work for both the water system and state agency and prevents the introduction of mapping errors.
Data development will be more successful and efficient if the project lead specifies the requested map format.
Specify exactly the precision required of the maps to make them useful and what other data fields need to be included with the data. A precise boundary without the system’s Public Water System Identifier cannot be connected to other system data, such as water quality violations, and is not very useful to the state. We were surprised at how often such vital information was left out.
If a state agency works with a contractor…
In-House vs. Contracting
While states could develop water service area boundaries through regulation, it is not required. States can easily create a voluntary, non-regulatory process for collecting and validating water system boundaries over a period of 12 to 18 months. The state can benefit from a partnership with a well-established trusted third party organizations to engage local utility stakeholders in the effort.
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The entire process can be contracted out, but as with all contracts, contract management and supervision costs should be considered. If external contractors are used, staff time is reduced and the timeframe may be accelerated, but external cost may rise.
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The only aspect of the process that must be done by the state is establishing the authoritative nature of the data and publication to official agency websites. The latter step may be carried out under contract. QA/QC of water system boundary data and integration with other data sets is an analytical task that may be carried out by state officials or contractors.
| Contractor Type | PROS | CONS |
|---|---|---|
| Private Sector Firms | Efficient delivery to state specifications: reliable maintenance for duration of contract | Usually higher cost |
| Non-Profit Organizations | Commitment to mission, generally lower cost, may be trusted by communities | Possibly slower delivery, maintenance likely transferred back to state |
| Research Institutions/Universities | In-depth knowledge relevant to specific use cases; student labor may lower costs | Research-driven rather than mission driven, slower delivery, maintenance transferred back to state |