In the "21st Century Water" podcast episode hosted by Mahesh Lunani, listeners are introduced to Kishia Powell, the General Manager and CEO of WSSC Water, which is recognized as the eighth-largest water utility in the United States. With a career spanning over 25 years, Powell has significantly contributed to the water sector, focusing on the provision of essential services, the economic implications of water, and the maintenance and operation of water and wastewater infrastructure.
Powell shares her journey within the water sector, starting from her education in civil engineering to her various leadership roles across different cities and utilities. She emphasizes the importance of water beyond its basic consumption purposes, highlighting its role in public health, economic development, and job creation. Her internships and early career decisions were motivated by the perennial demand for water and wastewater services, ensuring job security and a pathway to impact communities positively.
During her tenure in various capacities, including her significant roles in Baltimore and as COO at DC Water, Powell was instrumental in developing operations and maintenance plans, emphasizing the need for practical, hands-on solutions for system maintenance and improvement. She also initiated customer assistance programs aimed at addressing affordability and access to water services, reflecting on personal experiences to advocate for equitable water policies.
Looking ahead, Powell outlines her vision for the future of water infrastructure over the next decade, focusing on the resilience and maintenance of the $9 billion in infrastructure assets under her purview. She discusses the challenges of securing adequate funding and the importance of leveraging technology and operational efficiency to mitigate costs and enhance service delivery. Powell is keen on investing in the workforce, acknowledging that technology advancements and operational needs must balance with human resource development.
At WSSC Water, Powell embarked on a strategic planning process involving a transition team to identify key priorities and actions for improvement. This approach aimed at engaging employees across the organization, fostering a culture of trust, communication, and inclusion. Financial stewardship, service delivery, operational reliability, and resilience were identified as key focus areas, alongside a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and environmental justice.
Powell also addresses the challenges facing the water sector, including regulatory changes, funding gaps, and the need for affordable water services amidst rising costs. Her advocacy efforts extend to seeking more federal support and fostering community engagement to ensure equitable access to water services.
Innovation and technology play a significant role in Powell’s strategy for advancing water utility management. She highlights initiatives such as smart water technologies, data analytics, and sustainable practices aimed at improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing water quality. These efforts are part of a broader "Smart One Water Initiative," reflecting a commitment to embracing digital transformation and innovation within the sector.
Leadership and community engagement emerge as recurring themes in Powell’s narrative. She expresses a desire for her legacy to be defined not by specific projects or accomplishments but by a positive cultural shift within WSSC Water and the broader community. Powell emphasizes the importance of building a supportive work environment, engaging with the community, and ensuring that water utility management remains focused on serving the public good.
This episode provides a comprehensive overview of Kishia Powell’s contributions to the water sector, her vision for the future, and her strategic approach to leadership, innovation, and community engagement in water utility management.
More on Kishia:
Bio on NACWA Website: https://www.nacwa.org/about-us/board-of-directors/kishia-powell
WSSC Water Website: https://www.wsscwater.com/person/kishia-l-powell
21st Century Water -Kishia Powell
Speakers: Mahesh Lunani & Kishia Powell
[Music Playing]
Voiceover (00:01):
Tremendous challenges and opportunities exist right now for our nation's water infrastructure. In this podcast, the industry's top leaders and innovative minds share their knowledge and insights for ensuring our water systems are operating safely and efficiently.
These discussions are designed to motivate and create vibrant 21st century water systems and the innovative workforce required to lead and operate them. This is 21st Century Water with your host, Aquasight founder, and CEO Mahesh Lunani.
Mahesh Lunani (00:33):
Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. I'm excited to have Kishia Powell, general manager, and CEO of WSSC Water, U.S.’ eighth largest water utility.
With a 25-year career, Kishia is leading an organization that serve 1.9 million residents over a thousand square miles. Besides being the general manager and the CEO, she's very active on the board of National Association of Clean Water Agencies and a multitude of other organizations.
Prior to this, she was Chief Operating Officer at DC Water and held key leadership roles in city of Atlanta and Jackson. She's also recognized for her leadership and is industry icon because she testified before Congress in influencing water sector funding and policy.
She's a licensed engineer with bachelor’s in civil engineering from Morgan State University. She epitomizes the future of water utility management. I'm really excited to have her on this session. Welcome, Kishia, for a very compelling discussion.
Kishia Powell (01:36):
Well, thank you for having me, Mahesh.
Mahesh Lunani (01:38):
Real pleasure.
Kishia Powell (01:38):
It's been some time. Yes.
Mahesh Lunani (01:41):
I know. And we always wanted to have you on this podcast. And finally, we are lucky to have you. I want to get right into it. You had a 25-year water journey. What'd you learn the most during this journey?
Kishia Powell (01:53):
Oh my gosh, I've learned so many things. I've learned about what it means to provide essential services to the communities that we're serving. I've learned the importance and the value of water really and truly, not just from a public health perspective and ensuring that communities have access.
But I've also learned the economic impact of water and the ties that we have in the sector to really everything else where we say water is life, water is the quality of life. Water equals jobs. All the things.
You just don't think about those things when you're learning about water and wastewater treatment when you're in college, which is really where my journey and the water sector began. All of my internships were focused on, in some way, stormwater management.
And I made a decision where some of my schoolmates went into structures or geotech or transportation. I decided to go into the environmental field and specifically water because there was one pivotal moment where I thought, as I was going through school, “When will the world not need water and wastewater services? I'll always have a job,” because that's what it was about for me at that point.
And having those internships gave me enough experience credit to be very highly recruited. I was going into the private sector after school, and I wanted to do design. That was all I could think about was. I'm an engineer. I want to do design.
But my career choices and opportunities kept moving toward program management and then toward operations. And I had the opportunity to go back to the city of Baltimore because I was an intern there. Go back to the city of Baltimore and work on the program management team for the City of Baltimore's Consent Decree program when it was first entered.
And this is a time when cities across the country were starting to get these wet weather consent decrees. So, this was a great opportunity to really work with the city very closely. And I was assigned tasks to develop the city's operation and maintenance plan.
And I chose to go about it a different way. Instead of sitting at my desk and writing a plan based on guidance documents, I decided to go out boots on the ground, shoulder to shoulder with the city's collection systems, maintenance crews, all of the crews to really understand what they did and how I could amplify the positive in what they were doing.
But also provide a plan that would give them some instruction on what needed to happen, what needed to be done differently to make sure that the city was in a position to better maintain the collection system going forward.
I'm told they use that plan to this day, it's still in place. And because of that strategy, we were able to convince the purchase new vector trucks, new CCTV trucks.
And that was when I really started to see like what this is really about. It's really not about what we as engineers do in design. We design and put these systems in place, but someone has to maintain it.
That tie between putting systems in place, maintaining it, and the customer was really crystallized for me in that experience. I also had an opportunity to develop the city's first customer assistance programs for low-income and senior citizens.
And those programs, you'll hear me say, you'll hear the former bureau head at the time saying that those programs were not the greatest because we didn't know what we didn't know at that time.
And I found out several years later when I became Bureau Head of Water and Wastewater and my grandmother was still living in the city, that the program was not adequate for her because while she was on a fixed income, her income was still too high to qualify for the program.
And that gave me really a passion to focus on affordability, which is why I've become known for being an advocate for affordability and equity and justice in the sector from those lived experiences and the things that I have seen. So, in the 25 years, that's a long way of saying, Mahesh, that I have learned a lot on this journey and I'm still learning.
Mahesh Lunani (06:59):
What really stood out first, you are an incredible body of knowledge. And it's like somebody's got a tap, what you do in Baltimore, what you do in WSSC in Atlanta. So, that's very powerful.
Kishia Powell (07:11):
Jackson.
Mahesh Lunani (07:12):
Yeah, Jackson. Very, very powerful. Second is the simple question you asked when you were starting the career, what's replacement to water? And those are really important for our audience to be thinking about.
Now I want to talk about your current role. It's a massive system that you manage, 5,000 plus miles of water, sewer, half a million accounts. That's the infrastructure you have. But I know that you think long-term. And most utility leaders do. And you, in your role, have to think long-term. What does this infrastructure look like a decade from now for you?
Kishia Powell (07:49):
Well, a decade from now, I hope that the initiatives that we're putting in place means that the infrastructure is sound and that we are doing our best to maintain $9 billion in infrastructure assets.
But the reality is right now we don't have the funding that we need. And we talk about this all of the time amongst ourselves that there is a significant funding gap.
But in addition to asking for more funding from the federal government, asking for more funding from our rate payers, we also have a responsibility to make sure that we're operating as efficiently as possible.
That we're using every opportunity to leverage technology, to leverage changes in our workforce, to really drive down operational costs that allow us to use that savings to invest in our people and to invest in infrastructure. Because I believe that investing in our team is just as important as investing in the infrastructure.
And we talk about the changes in technology and digital transformation and AI and all the things that we'll be able to do, but I can't yet foresee a time, at least not in the next 10 years, that we will ever not need teammates, whatever that team looks like. So, we have to make those investments.
But I do think that the outlook for us is better. I don't think that we are really where we need to be, but I hope that in 10 years, water is definitely doing more innovative things that our treatment facilities, that we're using opportunities or the requirements to invest in our treatment facilities, drinking water treatment where PFAS is concerned to really upgrade those facilities and make sure that they are fit for the future.
We certainly have at our Piscataway Water Resource Recovery Facility; we have a new bioenergy facility coming online that gives us an opportunity to provide power to ourselves. It also gives us an opportunity to provide renewable natural gas for at least one county that we serve for their bus fleet.
And we want to expand that. I have said to my team, I want to look at how we can be engaged in hydrogen, being a supplier as well as an off-taker because we have water. And we have to be part of that equation.
And as you've talked about so many times, part of the mega trends that we face in the future is really contemplating where we fit in in the circular economy. So, whatever investments we're making in infrastructure, really have to take that into account.
I have introduced myself a couple times as a General Manager and Chief Circular Economy Officer here. And I really think for us that means trying to understand how we can leverage the investments that we have to make in infrastructure to make sure that we are not only operationalizing equity and justice for our communities, but that we're doing it in a way where we see a return on that investment that ultimately helps the utility down the road.
Mahesh Lunani (11:13):
What was interesting to me when I asked you what the future of infrastructure look like, you kind of pointed a hole in my question saying it isn't just infrastructure, it's also the team.
But more importantly, just it's a combination of team plus technology, that's critical for the next 10 years. But also, you outlined your interest in biogas production, hydrogen, handling PFAS, and that's a great amount of treatment technology. So, I appreciate the fact that you answered this question much more broadly than what I pointed to.
Now you talked about it, you don't have enough money to do all this. And I was in St. Louis two days ago, they had a proposition that passed. It's a tax for resident tax that would give $750 million more for water, wastewater infrastructure. So, they're looking different ways to get the money.
What's your budget in the next couple of years, but where are your biggest money investments going in the coming five years?
Kishia Powell (12:15):
I love to answer this question because this again, highlights or really underscores the need to invest in our people. So, for fiscal year ‘24, our budget overall was $1.6 billion and that's $931 million for operating operation and maintenance costs, which 52% of our costs are fixed.
And $683 million for capital investments. And that includes our share of investments at the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Facility.
For fiscal year 2025, which has not yet been approved, but we're looking forward to it being approved. The proposed budget is $1.8 billion, which includes a billion dollars for operating investments because we're accounting for the new bioenergy facility coming online.
We also have other needs that we have started to elevate. We have over 600 projects in our capital improvement portfolio. So, our CIP budget is 791 million. And again, having those fixed costs makes it difficult for us or has made it difficult for us in the past to really invest in our people.
And I was thinking about this last night, Mahesh, because I had a discussion. I was out in the field yesterday with some of our crews and as we had discussions going from job site to job site, I listened to the dreams that they have for their families, the things that they are already supporting their children to college.
One individual has a daughter that is working on an aerospace engineering degree. And it occurred to me it must be very difficult to have four children to send to college anyway.
But when you don't have a livable wage, when you are not making as much as an engineer or another professional, it's that much harder and that much more stressful. But yet folks want to show up and do a great job at work every day. And across our commission, we have very dedicated members of Team H2O. I haven't run into a single person that is not dedicated to our mission.
So, I have made it my business to remove any roadblocks that we have to investing in our team and really making them front and center of our budget request for fiscal year 2025.
So, I think about our budget in those three components, Team H2O, and this is the way we presented it. Team H2O, operation and maintenance, and capital. We've got to take out bonds, so we have to pay our debt obligations. That's pretty much fixed.
Again, 52% of our operating costs are fixed. Every time we have to cut our budget, which this year we had to cut our budget request for fiscal year 2025 by $80 million. And I refuse to remove all of the funds that we had budgeted for additional salary enhancements to bring our team up to competitive wages.
I have to think about affordability for our customers, yes. But 43% of our team lives in the service area. So, we are concerned about their affordability too. I'm very much concerned about them being able to afford to live. And we have to do our part to make sure that our team has the ability to contribute to the economic impact in the communities we serve.
Mahesh Lunani (16:01):
First of all, you run a $2 billion business, that would qualify as one of the Fortune 500 companies, number one.
Second is to me, what's interesting is when I asked this question about your capital budgets and O&M budgets, you kind of answered, it isn't just investment in pipes and pumps, it's investments in people. And I like it because of all the 32 episodes I've done, I haven't heard that one before.
Of course everybody wants to invest in people for sure. But the way you are thinking about it in your budget. You've been at WSSC 15 months and I'm sure you and your team have carved out a game plan of sort. What are the key pillars of this strategy?
Kishia Powell (16:46):
So, when I joined WSSC Water January 1st, 2023, I decided to take a bit of a different approach. This is the fifth utility that I've been with, as you pointed out a few of them. And you also talked about running a $2 billion enterprise and being a Fortune… I think among water utilities we're a Fortune 100 utility. We're the eighth largest in the country. The largest in the state of Maryland.
So, as I thought about how I would join the organization this time, I thought that there needed to be a different approach because we're coming off the heels of the pandemic. There's a change in leadership.
There were challenges previous to my tenure in the years, just prior to, that really needed to be put to bed. We needed a very sharp turn in a different direction, and we needed to focus on changing the culture here.
So, my approach was to establish a transition team, much like you would see any mayor or elected official do, but also business CEOs when they do go in. And there are major changes in Fortune 500, Fortune 100 companies.
And we were no different. We had the same needs. And that process has paid off in dividends. I call it the gift that keeps on giving because it's now become a recruitment tool because we have a transition report out of that period of time. The first 90 days where we brought 43 colleagues together from across the commission, every department, every group was represented, every location was represented on the transition team.
We limited the number of senior leadership team members because I thought it was important for employees to know, our team members, to know that we wanted to hear from them what they thought our path forward needed to be.
And out of that process, we were able to meet over a thousand employees face-to-face in the first 90 days. By the end of the next month, we had met just about everyone face-to-face and spent time hearing from them.
And those discussions really became the basis of our transition report with 178 action items. And those action items were established around a set of priorities for our first year. At the top of the list, it was building a strong workforce, focusing on service delivery, financial stewardship, because at that time we were under a negative credit watch from Fitch.
We had been under a negative credit watch for two years just about. We also knew that regulations are changing, Lead and Copper Rule, PFAS, having to deal with biosolids, what's happening with circular. So, that needed to be a priority. How are we positioning ourselves to deal with those regulations?
And then operational reliability and resilience, making sure that we were reliable in our service delivery, but also that we were really focusing on resilience in so many ways.
And then underpinning all of that, we started the discussions about the need to be focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and environmental justice. And that was a gap in the previous strategic plan. Those were the priorities we set for the first year.
At the end of last calendar year, we kicked off our strategic planning effort, and that will wrap up by June of this year, just in time for the new fiscal year. And that'll be a three-year roadmap to carry us forward to talk about the strategies that we have going forward, the priorities we have strategic objectives.
But also, we have reevaluated and thought about what our values need to be as an organization going forward. We're reframing our mission and we've also developed a new vision for ourselves, which we haven't had in a very long time.
One of the first things I said when I came on board is “The vision statement has said to be the world class utility and what is world class? What does that mean? And are we there yet?” That's been the vision for so long.
So, we really needed to think about what is our vision for ourselves going forward? How do we see ourselves? We talk about being an anchor institution, what does that really mean? And how do we make sure that we express that for the communities and that they really see and feel that in everything we do.
Mahesh Lunani (21:39):
What I found interesting is that the first 90-day transition gave you all the raw materials for year one plan. And then in year two you're rolling out this three-year strategic plan. It just seems like you are biting this in small bits, a large organization that just makes a lot of sense from a change management point of view. Right?
Kishia Powell (22:01):
Yeah. I listened to some words of wisdom from Will Smith. I really love the story that he tells about his father having he and his brother tear down this brick wall that was falling apart and rebuild this brick wall.
And the lesson learned was you don't set out to just build a wall. You don't just set out to build a wall and it's built. It's about one perfectly laid brick at a time.
And I learned that some years ago, actually, when I was in Jackson, because I was biting off much more than I could chew. There were so many challenges and issues there.
When I left there and went to Atlanta, a different mindset going there. Figure out the five top things that you need to focus on most and make sure that those things are addressed and keep identifying five more things, five more things. Because if you get so bogged down in the minutia of it all, it's very difficult to be effective.
And so, by this time coming into WSSC Water, I knew that a different approach is warranted. And it is really about really laying a foundation first, addressing the team. The whole first year, I did very few engagements with external parties, very few meetings with external parties except for our stakeholders, elected officials, and our team.
Because I wanted to make sure that we understood the foundation from which we were working and making sure that the team understood where we needed to be as a high performing team. And really building that trust and starting to focus on changing culture.
And again, that has paid off because as we work through this plan, what the team told me yesterday was, “We actually see it. We see where we're going. Before, we had no idea.” And that is reassuring to them.
But it also means that we get a lot more from them because they're so committed to making sure that we reach our destination because they have been a part of defining what that is.
Now, where we've had 43 folks engaged in the transition planning process, we have 150 team members engaged in our strategic planning process on a regular basis. And we're finding ways to engage the entire commission, our board members, and external stakeholders.
Mahesh Lunani (24:48):
You talked about how you have evolved as a leader, as you moved from trying to handle everything in Jackson to be top five. That's so true. That's the evolution of leadership. We learn every day. We were not born to know everything.
And I'm a different CEO now than I was two years ago, and there's a running joke in my own organization. I'm looking for ways to fire myself so I can do a different job at a better job in this role.
And talking about Will Smith, every time I listen to him outside the movies, I feel he has so much to share about life experiences that we can learn as leaders. So, I'm actually thrilled you brought him up here.
I always like this because we talked about leadership. What's a day in life look for you, number one. And how do you engage with your board of commissioners, that represent Prince George's and Montgomery Counties? How does it look?
Kishia Powell (25:43):
Oh my gosh. Well, no day is the same and no day ends up how it was planned for the most part. But I have to start out by saying that I am very fortunate, really, I consider myself blessed to have the board of commissioners we do because they are extremely supportive and encouraging to me personally, but also to the organization.
They really believe in our organization. They believe in what we're doing. They have been extremely supportive about my approach and the recommendations that I bring to them. We decided from the very start that we were going to work collaboratively to move this organization forward.
And I consider them my greatest counsel whenever there is a challenge or a question that I have, especially navigating the politics that we have to navigate as CEOs sometimes. And deciding when to engage in the politics and when to stay on the technical plane.
Making sure that you have that understanding and that ability to discern where you should be at any one time is very much needed. But it's great to have a board that is watching your back and cheering you on really.
But a day in the life for me, I'm very in touch with the team. Like I said yesterday, I was boots on the ground with a team on two job sites. We got two jobs done. I think I was slowing them down maybe trying to help too much, but-
Mahesh Lunani (27:30):
Or ask too many questions.
Kishia Powell (27:32):
Right. Or asking too many questions. But just engaging in the conversation with them, it allows them to open up. And before you know it, they're not looking at me as the general manager, CEO of WSSC Water. They're viewing me as a colleague and it's a safe space for that moment in time on the job site where they can share the things that frustrate them and the things that they need to do their job better.
So, they're talking about, “We could be more efficient here if we had this, if we had that.” And in the scheme of things, they're not asking for a whole lot, tools to better do their job, more updated tools to better do their job.
So, I love when I get those opportunities to be out with a team. I love when I get the opportunity to pop down to our cafe to get lunch and have talks with our team, but it really runs the gamut. I try to be anywhere I can be across the commission.
We have a thousand square mile service area. I don't want to spend all my time in my office in our support center building, which is what we rebranded our headquarters as, trying to get to our locations.
But many days I have to appear before our city councils. I have to go meet with county executive office staff for two counties. So, pick a county and we have double the process here because we are serving two counties.
I spend a lot of time in DC on Capitol Hill. We've been able to talk to our members of Congress, which is so great. And they have been supportive. This past year we were able to secure congressionally directed funding for a significant initiative to serve the unserved and underserved, bringing sewer services to them.
And then engaged, as you said, board meetings, we’re on a few boards. It seems like we don't have enough time in the day to get it all done. Usually, I'm up until four o'clock in the morning responding to emails because the day has been so full.
But what I love about the opportunity that I have is that I can place myself anywhere I need to be, where I think there's going to be an opportunity to be impactful, not only to our team and to our utility, but in the water sector.
I'm very, very passionate about water sector policy and advocacy. And going back to your first question, I have learned a whole lot about the power of advocacy and really speaking into issues. We did that with workforce development, working with WALA and NACWA, U.S. Water Alliance and others to make sure that there was a water sector grant program for workforce development.
We have seen that grow and now we're doing the same with low-income household water assistance program to make sure that there is sustainable funding for household assistance for water.
Mahesh Lunani (30:48):
(Sarcastically) Yeah. So, sounds like in your day in life you have a lot of empty space in your calendar.
(Laughter) I mean it's amazing and obviously there's so many different topics that you are covering. It's a phenomenal amount of context changes from one hour to another hour.
I'm going to jump ahead a little bit. I heard you, of course you send emails at four in the morning, but what keeps you up at night from a risk point of view? Is there anything that keeps you up at night?
Kishia Powell (31:16):
Well, I will say the level of trust that I have in this team, I am able to sleep well when I get a chance to sleep. And I thought about that question Mahesh because there have been times, like in Jackson there was so much keeping me up at night.
There were so many opportunities for things to go wrong. Infrastructure was not stable and concerns with the workforce, all of the things that we saw play out that were issues before I got there. Even in Atlanta, we had concerns and challenges.
At WSSC Water, I am fortunate to have a team of people that really know their jobs well. All of the teams that I have worked with have been phenomenal. And they have done their best. This team though, I realize I'm either going to trust the team or I'm going to obsess about what I don't know.
And we have talked about being a high performing team. We have talked about trust, foundation of trust and communication. And so, I trust the team will communicate if there's anything that I need to be concerned about.
But beyond that, we are definitely concerned about the impacts of changing regulations, the PFAS regulations. And we've leaned in and said that we are going to continue to make sure that we continue our 106-year track record of no drinking water quality violations. We want to provide the safest drinking water to our customer as possible.
So, we will make whatever investments we need to make to ensure that we continue that track record and we continue to provide safe, clean drinking water. That is our brand.
But there is a cost associated with that. And I'm very concerned about the impacts to our rate payers, especially those that already have affordability challenges, those that are income constrained.
That's a concern to me. Every night, I am concerned that there is a possibility that with the work we do, there could be impacts to our staff. And so, I'm constantly concerned about making sure that our team members are safe and sound and that everybody makes it home safe to their families every single day. And that they have a good work experience.
Employee experience means a whole lot to me. I know it means a whole lot to the team as well as does … it means a lot to our senior leadership team also. Those are the things that concern me. There's so many politics, climate change, there's just so many concerns. But those are first and foremost.
Mahesh Lunani (34:16):
No, fair enough, Kishia. And of course we have to, as leaders must think about risks, known risk and unknown risk and be prepared for it.
As we kind of head towards tail end of our conversation, there's many important areas that are brewing in our industry, rate increases, workforce, optimization of our infrastructure and processes and circular economy. Just pick two or three that's important to you. And can you kind of describe where it is you're doing in that space?
Kishia Powell (34:50):
Yeah, I think I touched on how really all of those things that you just mentioned go together. We are concerned about rates. I've said before, affordability is a three-legged stool. We have to have affordable yet adequate rates. We have to have customer assistance programs.
We believe that that includes the federal low-income household water assistance program, which is akin to LIHEAP. And we have to have more federal funding. There is a significant funding gap when you compare the federal funding that we get for the water sector.
You compare that to surface transportation or transportation; it is extremely imbalanced in this country. And we have to figure out how to close that gap for the water sector.
We are at a point in this country and really — well, I'll just deal with this country. We're at a point where we are having to choose between reliability and resilience. We're having to choose between affordability for water and affordability and so many other sectors for the same customers, the same communities, and they need it all.
And we have to figure out how to make sure that we can unburden those that are burdened the most with the rising cost of inflation. Having to invest in infrastructure, being behind and having to make it up.
So, rates are a concern, and we've had that discussion. But fortunately, because of the support of our commissioners and our elected officials and stakeholders, we were able to get the highest rate revenue increase in 12 years.
So, it wasn't what we asked for, but it was higher than what has been supported in 12 years. Again, workforce is so important. I believe it's as important to invest in the workforce as it is to invest in infrastructure.
But I think that tie is the optimization piece and that is making sure that we are figuring out how to optimize our operations so that it is not more challenging for our workforce so that we leverage the workforce that we're losing.
And we really have to think about how we do that because additional headcount competes with additional compensation.
And then wrapping that all with a bow, being part of the circular economy, gives us an opportunity to have alternative revenue sources that allow us to offset rate increases and also invest in our operations, optimization of our operations and also our workforce. So, all of those things are tied together.
Mahesh Lunani (37:37):
Excellent way to answer actually. So, I want to talk about technology and AI.
Kishia Powell (37:41):
Of course you do, Mahesh.
Mahesh Lunani (37:44):
That's right. That's right. I put my life's effort into that. What's the role of technology and what do you see the future of AI in this sector as a leader of an organization?
Kishia Powell (37:56):
Well, I think technology definitely has its place. Technology we can clearly see over the course of the years. When you look at everything combined, not just the water sector, technology has allowed us to advance in such a way that we can do so much, and we can see so much.
We have insights, we can analyze data, we can solve problems more efficiently and effectively and really achieve sustainable solutions to those issues. We can leverage gaps in our workforce, gaps in our knowledge base with technology.
Improvements in technology have allowed us to provide better water quality for our communities. It's allowed us to really resolve longstanding issues, but we also see what happens when technology fails. Sometimes technology doesn't always work for us.
Now we're talking about the use of AI and one of the things that I'm concerned about, and many others are concerned about is whether or not we might have some inherent biases in the use of AI, if that creeps in, how that will impact the decisions that we are making.
And so, it's important that as we weigh the use of technology going forward, digital transformation, the things that we want to do to upgrade our facilities, how we are working with one another, even being able to have meetings with folks across the country, around the world at any time now because we are so connected, we can't forget about those that are not part of that connection.
And the other thing that I've expressed concern about is when we are talking about digital transformation, when we are leveraging technology, we can't forget that there is a workforce in this as well. There is a workforce that is part of the equation.
We don't want to leave anyone behind. We also don't want to be the ones that are not providing the opportunities for those that need it anymore. And right now, I think as an anchor institution, we are able to provide those opportunities for low barrier to entry jobs. So, there has to be a balance there.
But I am excited about the opportunities that we have to introduce new technologies, new ways of doing things into the sector. We have been very risk-averse as a sector, but now there is an opportunity. Folks are seeing ways that we can take risks and it not impact the product and the quality that we are providing to our customers in real ways that are really assisting us.
So, driving down costs if that is the case, being able to use less chemical, being able to use less energy, focusing on different technologies that improve the performance of our facilities, all of that is very meaningful.
We have to balance it and make sure that at the outset we are defining those positive benefits that we want to see and that we're very aware and cognizant of impacts, unintended consequences of making those investments and upgrades.
Mahesh Lunani (41:22):
So, excitement but a balanced view. That's the way I take it from your side.
Kishia Powell (41:26):
Yes. Very excited about the work that the team has already completed. We have some past successes to address energy and chemical efficiency. The team launched a sensor-based smart aeration control at our Seneca Water Resource Recovery Facility using ammonia sensors. We're not only reducing operational costs but improving water quality.
We also have digital twins for our water resource recovery facilities. But I'm extremely excited that this year we're going to host Morgan State University interns who are going to help us build out a digital twin for our entire service area.
So, all of our facilities to allow us to have the insight and control over our operations. We're very much focused on data analytics and management using sensor technology, but also using Power BI and connecting that to the data sources that we have.
And we're using sewer AI, technology, smart cover, you name it. We are even doing satellite leak detection here, which has been very helpful, particularly with our asset management planning strategy.
So, a lot of focus on introducing technology. And the question is so timely because a couple weeks ago we launched our Smart One Water Initiative. So, I remember the very first interview I did coming into this role by Global Water Intelligence. I was asked, “Are you going to focus on smart utility? Because I know that was big for you in the city of Atlanta.” And I said, “Yes, but we're not there yet.”
Well, I'm happy to announce that we are there now, and the team is preparing to go to New York in a couple of weeks to the Smart Water Symposium in New York, and they're submitting abstracts to attend the Smart City Symposium in Barcelona in the fall to exhibit our approach.
And hopefully we'll be able to exhibit with the U.S. Department of Commerce to really showcase our approach, which is really focused on our value chain. What technologies, what innovations, what digital transformation can we utilize across our entire value chain that provide us a return on investment, that provide us with specific positive outcomes, the outcomes that we need to see to drive down operational costs and really leverage where our team is now in terms of our workforce.
Mahesh Lunani (44:13):
That's outstanding. That sounds like an amazing list of initiatives, and we certainly wish the team H2O a great success, especially as you think about New York City and Barcelona.
I ask this question, I've always asked to the guests because it's always a fascinating answer. What do you want your legacy to be?
Kishia Powell (44:34):
So, I think oftentimes folks think about the things that you are leaving, whether it be a certain project that got completed. I was fortunate enough to be in Atlanta when we started the pumps to allow water to start flowing into the quarry.
And I've been around for many significant projects at various places. At WSSC Water, I want to see the culture shift that we need. I want to make sure that this is a place where our employees feel they can thrive, where they want to be.
And I heard that yesterday that people are really engaged. Many people that said they were halfway out the door wanting to leave, but they decided to stay because they believed in what we are doing.
As a leader, I subscribed to John Maxwell's 5 Levels Of Leadership. And here at WSSC Water, I'm trying to get back to a level five where people follow you because they believe in what you stand for, and you are pouring into people, you're creating new leaders, and that's what I want to be known for here. I want to make sure that when I leave, certainly the tenor of the place is better than I found it.
And all of the projects and everything else will come. We'll be commissioning the bioenergy facility. We'll be starting up new projects, new major initiatives that I perhaps won't be around to see to closure.
But at the end of the day, I think what needs to be sustainable is our culture and how this place feels to the people that are in it.
And the last thing I would say is the focus on community and truly focused on community where we are engaging them, we're hearing them, and we are investing for their benefit to make sure that every community is thriving on equal footing.
Mahesh Lunani (46:48):
Kishia, it's been long time coming for us to be together on a podcast, but if I have to sum up, I mean, you are an incredible body of knowledge in terms of what it takes to run water wastewater business, no question, charismatic leader.
But I think more importantly, even being an engineer, concluding that culture and community, it isn't the design and the project and the big tunnel. That's a huge thing.
And I want to thank you for being part of this amazing conversation, and I hope everybody listening, including your team members at WSSC, truly understand and enjoy what's in your mind and how you have evolved as a leader. So, I want to thank you for being part of it.
Kishia Powell (47:34):
Thank you. Thank you for giving me this platform and this opportunity to have a discussion. I respect and admire you so much and hearing your origin story recently, I have a whole new appreciation for you and what you bring to this sector, Mahesh.
So, thank you for all that you do in working and collaborating with us as leaders to advance our sector and to really advance our thinking about the future years and what is possible for us as we face the mega trends and the opportunities that we have to leverage to be a part of the circular economy and to really be in the driver's seat, truly in the driver's seat of our utilities as businesses too.
So, I truly appreciate it, and I enjoyed the discussion today.
Mahesh Lunani (48:26):
Wow, I didn't see that coming, Kishia. And that was the most praise I got on this podcast. So, I'm going to share that with the whole team now. And I can see that was very genuine on your behalf, so I appreciate that.
Kishia Powell (48:38):
Well, I just want to say, shout out to Team H2O. Those are my peeps.
Mahesh Lunani (48:42):
Absolutely. Shout out to Team H2O.
Kishia Powell (48:44):
Thank you, Mahesh.
Mahesh Lunani (48:45):
Thank you. Take care.
Kishia Powell (48:46):
Cheers.
Voiceover (48:47):
Join host and Aquasight founder and CEO Mahesh Lunani for another episode of 21st Century Water. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, or Stitcher, produced by JAG in Detroit Podcasts.