Work

Understanding Water System Manager's Motivations for and Their Perceived Benefits of Consolidation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Across the United States, policymakers are busy developing incentive programs and mandatory policies to speed up adoption of consolidations and reduce the number of regulated water systems. Little attention, however, has been paid to why water system managers themselves, whose cooperation, if not leadership, is often required, pursue consolidation and how they characterize the benefits. Here we leverage novel, representative data from the California Water System Consolidation Survey to shed light on these questions. We find that consolidation is motivated by a diverse array of concerns within and among projects. In 80% of cases, managers reported benefits pertaining to their motivations, suggesting an overall high level of effectiveness. One exception is motivations related to technical, managerial, and financial capacity for which respondents reported fewer related benefits. Many also reported additional benefits beyond those specifically related to their motivations. We identify several factors that are associated with increased consolidation effectiveness and with specific benefits including geographic isolation of the systems, previous relationships between water systems, and water system initiation of consolidation. The results highlight opportunities to advance beneficial, community‐driven projects as well as challenges meriting scholarly and policy attention, including the need to align consolidation rhetoric with the priorities and experiences of managers themselves.

Source: JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association

DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.70075

Authors: Kristin Babson Dobbin, Aaryaman Singhal, Gregory Pierce, Khalid Osman

Institutions: University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, Stanford University

Language: English

Topic: Water Governance and Infrastructure

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,200