The COVID-19 pandemic, and its associated economic and financial impacts, is posing historic challenges to the public clean water sector. The pandemic has also accentuated long-existing issues facing the sector, including ratepayer affordability and workforce concerns.
Given this confluence of events and challenges, it is not surprising that some utilities may engage in conversations over governance structures. To help utilities address these concerns, this document outlines a set of considerations and key issues that utilities can evaluate if they are exploring a change to their existing utility governance structure. The document also includes a series of case studies to provide examples of how utilities have addressed or implemented many of the issues raised in the paper.