By Kris Polly

Western South Dakota may have a small population by big-city standards, but with steady growth that has accelerated in past years, it’s ready to think about a new water supply. In our cover interview with Kristin Conzet, the executive director of the Western Dakota Regional Water System (WDRWS), we learn about how that process is unfolding. With significant stakeholder buy-in and a methodical approach to finding the best supply—whether it’s Missouri River water delivered via pipeline or a further use of regional groundwater— WDRWS is committed to doing things right.

After that, we turn to an initiative that is gaining momentum across the West: the removal and replacement of nonfunctional turf, a major waster of precious water. We survey representatives of six water utilities across four states, including several that were instrumental in creating a 2022 memorandum of understanding that established a goal of reducing nonfunctional turf by 30 percent, and ask them about the drivers of turf replacement, their programs and rates, and the results they have accomplished.

Next, we interview Eric Trerotola of ASTERRA, a company that identifies leaking pipes using specialized satellite imagery that can distinguish leaking potable water from groundwater or irrigation water. With 600 clients around the world and 640 billion gallons of saved water to its credit, ASTERRA is making a name for itself—and recently signed a 4‑year contract with New Mexico to help small utilities across the state.

Calgon Carbon is a leading provider of activated carbon for a wide spectrum of uses, including water purification. In our interview with Amber Simonic, Calgon’s executive director of drinking water solutions, we learn about what makes Filtrasorb, Calgon’s “workhorse” carbon product, work so well; hear a success story involving its rapidly deployable treatment vessels; and dig into the process by which spent carbon can actually be reactivated and reused.

Finally, we turn to IDE Technologies, a global company best known in the United States for designing and operating the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant in Carlsbad, California—the nation’s largest desalination plant. Vijay Ahire, the technical sales director of IDE Technologies’ North American subsidiary, tells us about its water treatment and desal solutions and highlights several U.S. success stories.

Success is built by consistently taking steady steps in the right direction. What is important is identifying the steps that need to be taken. One way that can be done is by putting in the effort to conceptualize and plan a major project, like WDRWS’s supply program. Another way is to methodically identify and then tackle a pervasive problem, such as nonfunctional turf. Still another is to use a novel technology, such as ASTERRA’s, to put together a to-do list of problems and then execute on them. And then there’s using best available technologies, such as activated carbon or reverse osmosis, to reliably deliver high-quality water. This sort of steady, step-by-step progress is what success is made of.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He can be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.