Underground Infrastructure - April 2023 - 30

ASSETMANAGEMENT
Cloud Platform Gives Communities Control
Over Their Revenue Management Destiny
Corinna Hunt | Contributing Editor
When the eff ects of rampant infl ation became
apparent in Nevada's Virgin Valley
Water District in 2022, a tank installation
project budgeted for $2.4 million - similar
to a $2-million-project completed in
2018 - received a bid of $3.6 million. So
Chief Financial Offi cer Wes Smith set to
work recalculating the projected cost of
planned capital projects.
When he plugged the numbers into
a Waterworth forecasting model, the result
showed the district would be bankrupt
by 2027.
Smith took the forecasted scenario
to the district's board of directors, proposing
a $7 million bond, and a rate increase,
which changed the model's prediction
to show a healthy cash position
until nearly 2029.
" A $7-million bond bought me essentially
seven years to get a rate increase
through and get some changes made, "
Smith said.
Board members approved the bond
in 10 minutes.
" Th ey had a couple of questions, but
because they're so comfortable with Waterworth,
when I was able to show them
the pictures, they said, 'If that's what we
need to do, let's do it,' " Smith said.
Unique solutions
Waterworth is a cloud-based platform
designed for continuous utility rates
management and forecasting, said JP
Joly, founder and CEO of the company.
It's incredibly unusual for such a decision
to be made so quickly, and that's at
the heart of continuous utility rates management,
he said.
" Th e math doesn't lie, " Joly said. " Because
Wes had taken the time to keep his
board members familiar so they know
and trust the model the moment they
saw what needed to be done, it was a
no-brainer for them. "
Joly began doing rate studies in the
water utility business about 18 years ago.
Originally, it involved using Microsoſt
Excel, which was not a workable solution
to sharing models, and writing a " very
long, boring " report that quickly became
outdated, he said.
" Th at got me thinking; 'Th ere's got to
be a bett er way to do this.' Th e idea was
to put all of that expertise and know-how
onto the cloud, like everything else is, "
Joly commented.
Created in 2016, Waterworth gives
clients more control over revenue manWaterworth's
model can display as much or as little information as a client needs, since it's designed
to grow and evolve accordingly. (Photo courtesy of JP Joly)
30 APRIL 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
agement and forecasting by logging in
to the platform and adding data to create
hypothetical scenarios, without having to
engage with outside consultants. Additionally,
the soſt ware uses a lot of interactive
visuals to help guide decision-making
- a refreshing change from long documents
full of " walls " of numbers, he said.
Waterworth's website indicates that
while it's capable of handling data for even
the largest metropolitan areas, the company's
focus is on smaller municipalities,
which may not have access to the same
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Underground Infrastructure - April 2023

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