John Young, referred to by some of us as “the Fixer,” is at it again. This time he is working in Prichard, Ala. If you have not heard of Prichard, it's about five miles northwest of Mobile. The 2020 census pegs Prichard's population at just over 19,000 (and dropping). The median household income in 2022 was just over $36,000, and the December 2023 median home list price was $66,500.

John has a track record of being called on when water and wastewater systems become, putting it nicely, “troubled systems.” For example, in 2010, when I first became aware of John's work, he was the court-appointed receiver of the Environmental Services Department in Jefferson County, Ala. He had sole responsibility to “fix” a system affected by mismanagement and corruption, which led to a $3.2 billion bond default (then the largest municipal bankruptcy in history). Since then, he has applied his fixer skills to numerous water and wastewater utilities; most notable was the highly visible “water crisis” in Flint, Mich.

As for John's current receivership assignment, the Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board defaulted on a $55 million loan. In simple terms, the default was the “result of years of mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility,” and eventually these flaws resulted in the utility's inability to repay the loan. In November 2023, the Mobile County Circuit Court appointed John as the receiver of the utility, with the responsibility to “act in the place of the elected and appointed officials” (source: Notice of the Court Action, Nov. 10, 2023, page 3). The challenges are much more than financial, however. The system has suffered from years of neglect, poor planning, failure to comply with consent orders, and water leakage in its distribution system in the range of 60% (you read that correctly—6 out of every 10 gallons of water is lost).

While John's current challenges are significant, he is quick to point out that each time he is recruited to fix a troubled water system, the issues are solved only when dedicated teams of community leaders, utility staff, regulators, and others come together to provide and support the necessary, often complicated, and sometimes controversial solutions. He likes to use the analogy that he may be the orchestra conductor, but it's the musicians who make the music.

Another of John's insights: “Fixing short-term compliance issues [is] easy compared with developing a legitimate plan showing the utility could operate optimally in the long term” (Journal AWWA, April 2023). AWWA's Water 2050 initiative also embraces John's point that a long-term view is the key to water's future. For example, two of the Water 2050 recommendations are creating a culture in which everyone has a personal connection to water and a sense of shared responsibility for it. When you couple that with the companion recommendation of building public trust in those providing water services with the goal that they are recognized as anchor institutions in every community, you have a dramatically different water community–customer relationship from what we have today and, ideally, a reduction in troubled systems.

Water 2050 recommendations also recognize that water services will be different in the future. Imagine if Prichard and other similarly situated utilities were able to have water rates that reflected the full cost of service while advancing affordable access to water services. Or what if struggling utilities partnered with each other through collaborative, sustainable water service arrangements or achieved operational efficiencies and other economies of scale through consolidation?

These Water 2050 visions require change in the status quo, and change requires leaders. Paraphrasing John, utility leaders must know which battles to fight because the right decision can change lives. And those decisions are best made with effective, long-term planning. The good news is, some early-adopter utilities have already started implementing Water 2050's long-term recommendations and demonstrating the possibilities.

It is worth asking, will we still need a water utility “fixer” in 2050? The optimist in me hopes we won’t because water's leaders will have made the right decisions between now and then. The realist in me cannot help but think we will need a fixer from time to time. And when we do, I hope that person will emerge and assemble the orchestra the way John has.

For now, John's dilemma is how to mobilize the resources of a community and its regulators to solve the immediate utility challenges Prichard faces and also set them up for long-term sustainable success after he is done serving as the utility's receiver. If you want to follow John's work with Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board, you can do so at www.fixprichardwater.com. Thank goodness the Fixer and his orchestra are at it again!

被我们中的一些人称为“修复者”的约翰·杨（John Young）又来了。这次他在阿拉巴马州的普里查德工作。如果您还没有听说过普里查德，它位于莫比尔西北约五英里处。 2020 年人口普查显示普里查德的人口略高于 19,000 人（并且还在下降）。 2022 年家庭收入中位数略高于 36,000 美元，2023 年 12 月房屋标价中位数为 66,500 美元。

约翰有一个记录，当供水和废水处理系统变得“有问题的系统”时，约翰就会接到电话。例如，2010 年，当我第一次了解到约翰的工作时，他是阿拉巴马州杰斐逊县环境服务部的法院指定接管人。他全权负责“修复”受管理不善和腐败影响的系统，导致 32 亿美元的债券违约（当时是历史上最大的市政破产）。从那时起，他将自己的修复技能应用于众多供水和废水处理设施；最引人注目的是密歇根州弗林特的高度可见的“水危机”。

至于约翰目前的破产管理任务，普里查德自来水厂和下水道委员会拖欠了 5500 万美元的贷款。简而言之，违约是“多年管理不善和财政不负责任的结果”，最终这些缺陷导致公用事业公司无法偿还贷款。 2023 年 11 月，莫比尔县巡回法院任命约翰为公用事业接收人，负责“代替当选和任命的官员行事”（来源：法院诉讼通知，2023 年 11 月 10 日，第3）。然而，挑战远不止是财务方面的。该系统多年来因疏忽、规划不善、未能遵守同意令而遭受损失，其配水系统的漏水率高达 60%（您没看错，每 10 加仑水就有 6 加仑流失）。

虽然约翰目前面临的挑战是巨大的，但他很快指出，每次他被招募来修复问题水系统时，只有当社区领导、公用事业工作人员、监管机构和其他人组成的专门团队齐心协力提供和解决问题时，问题才能得到解决。支持必要的、通常复杂的、有时有争议的解决方案。他喜欢用这样的比喻：他可能是乐团指挥，但创作音乐的是音乐家。

John 的另一个见解是：“与制定表明公用事业公司可以长期最佳运营的合法计划相比，解决短期合规问题很容易”（《AWWA 杂志》，2023 年 4 月）。 AWWA 的 Water 2050 倡议也赞同 John 的观点，即长远眼光是水务未来的关键。例如，《水 2050》的两项建议正在创造一种文化，让每个人都与水有个人联系，并对水有共同的责任感。当你将这一点与建立公众对供水服务提供者的信任的建议结合起来时，他们的目标是被公认为每个社区的支柱机构，你就会拥有与我们今天所拥有的截然不同的水社区-客户关系，并且在理想情况下，减少有问题的系统。

《水 2050》建议还认识到，未来的供水服务将会有所不同。想象一下，如果普里查德和其他类似情况的公用事业公司能够制定反映全部服务成本的水费，同时推进负担得起的供水服务。或者，如果陷入困境的公用事业公司通过协作、可持续的供水服务安排相互合作，或者通过整合实现运营效率和其他规模经济，又会怎样呢？

这些“水 2050”愿景需要改变现状，而改变需要领导者。用约翰的话来说，公用事业领导者必须知道要打哪些仗，因为正确的决定可以改变生活。这些决定最好通过有效的长期规划来做出。好消息是，一些早期采用者公用事业公司已经开始实施 Water 2050 的长期建议并展示其可能性。

值得一问的是，到了 2050 年，我们还需要水务“修复者”吗？我内心的乐观主义者希望我们不会这样做，因为水务领导者从现在到那时都会做出正确的决定。我内心的现实主义者情不自禁地认为我们时不时地需要一个解决者。当我们这样做时，我希望那个人能够像约翰那样出现并组建乐团。

目前，约翰面临的困境是如何调动社区及其监管机构的资源来解决普里查德面临的直接公用事业挑战，并在他不再担任公用事业公司的接收者后，为这些挑战做好长期可持续的成功准备。如果您想关注 John 与 Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board 的工作，您可以访问 www.fixprichardwater.com。谢天谢地，修复者和他的管弦乐队又来了！