Stakeholder Engagement

Summary

Workforce development has always been a challenge for water-related utilities. The added challenges of moving from traditional siloes to a Smart One Water management philosophy adds an additional layer of complexity, but also creates incredible opportunity to increase collaborative efforts and attract previously untapped resources and people. As an industry, it is essential that we develop an understanding of future workforce needs driven by integrated one water governance and management, digital and AI-driven advancements and that our internal and external workforce initiative evolve accordingly.

Topics Discussed

ONE WATER STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Why Engagement is Important?

Many technologies and sectors are involved in the proposed work as a result a lot of information and opinions need to be gathered (Figure 2):

· Expertise and knowledge reside in a broad spectrum of individuals and groups

· Different individuals and groups are involved in the use of technologies and they are affected by them

Who are the stakeholders?

A stakeholder is anyone who can influence or is affected by a change (or things they are).

People/institutions that are:

· Connected with the different technologies

· Using the proposed solution

· Planning and legislating

· Connected to those affected by the proposed solution

When should stakeholders be engaged?

There are different times during a project when stakeholders need to be engaged.

How should stakeholders by engaged?

There are many ways to engage stakeholders, like:

· Questionnaires and surveys

· Field observations

· Focus groups

· Public forum

· Interviews

· Workshops

· Brainstorming

Questions in the breakout sessions:

1. What are the pressing barriers to innovation in your space?

2. How do you envision new technologies to help you interact with other organizations, customers, and policy makers, and break down current silos?

3. What strategies or technologies is your organization considering to support new infrastructure?

4. What have you tried and what have you learned from your past efforts?

5. What new industries do you foresee burgeoning as a result of a need for SOW technologies by water sector industry?

6. What are some new growth opportunities related to smart water infrastructure?

7. What are some policies and jurisdiction barriers to these opportunities?

8. What challenges and opportunities do you see in enabling SOW infrastructure for smaller communities?

9. What else should we consider / what are we not thinking about?

10. Who else should be involved in this discussion?

Recommendations:

The white paper will be used as a guiding document in the development of the NSF ERC Smart One Water and also by other entities.

Stakeholder Engagement Workshop Report - Click here to download

Key Presentations

For more details related to workshop please write to us: swimcenter@vt.edu