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21st Century Water Asset Accounting - Case Studies Report (WERF Report INFR6R12a)
Citation:
Pickle, A., A. Van de Bogert, AND R. Schmidt. 21st Century Water Asset Accounting - Case Studies Report (WERF Report INFR6R12a). Water Environment Research Foundation, Alexandria, VA, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
Benefits: •Develops and pilot tests two potential frameworks for water utilities to account for the benefits provided by green infrastructure. •Describes utility experiences implementing those frameworks in a pilot test. •Explores themes that emerged from utility responses to the pilot test.
Description:
America’s decaying water infrastructure presents significant financial and logistical challenges for water utilities. Green infrastructure has been gaining traction as a viable alternative and complement to traditional “grey” infrastructure for water management. Current accounting frameworks, however, may not adequately account for the value of these assets, and the absence of appropriate accounting and valuation tools may limit the ability of utilities to maintain or expand green approaches. This project developed two potential accounting frameworks to help water utilities assess and account for the ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure. The frameworks were pilot tested at three participating public water utilities over a period of five months to assess the benefits and feasibility of implementing national-scale accounting methods for green infrastructure. Several themes on green infrastructure accounting emerged from the pilot tests: the effects of regulatory vs. non-regulatory drivers, the importance of information flow both to the utilities from outside experts and within municipal government, and the need for standardized methods for assessing and accounting for the services provided by green infrastructure. Pilot test participants indicated that with further refinement of the accounting frameworks and the development of standardized guidance for valuing green infrastructure by the GASB (Government Accounting Standards Board), national-scale implementation of these accounting frameworks could be possible. [NOTE: The link below connects to a WERF site where the Final Report can be downloaded for free, after registering at the WERF site. For some projects the Executive Summary is available and can be downloaded for free without registering on the WERF site.]
