AWWA JAW62056

The increasing pressure on water utilities to meet growingregulatory expectations is well-known. Customers arealso clamoring for utilities' attention, demanding service,safety, and taste and creating pressure from a differentdirection. Utilities' primary competition is the bottled waterindustry because of a public perception of greater safetyand better taste. In the service arena, water utilities arerated about the same as the average private sector organizationand slightly higher than the average federal agency.This article is the third in a series on trends andtheir implications for water utilities. The authorsexamine how customers rate the service of water utilitiescompared with other utilities, and discuss howdecision-makers and much of the general public arelargely unaware of or misinformed about environmentaland other issues affecting the water industry. Theauthors go on to discuss how simply providing high-qualitywater and engineering excellence are notenough to ensure customer satisfaction and publicsupport, and they provide ideas for improving customerservice and satisfaction and countering mediamisinformation. Includes 8 references, figure.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. 97 - No. 9

Published:

09/01/2005

Number of Pages:

6

File Size:

1 file , 210 KB