Dear Future AWWA Members,

I am, for the third time, writing to you with more reflections about the impact of COVID‐19 on society and the water sector. This time I'd like to focus on the future—a post‐COVID‐19 future—and what that could be like.

Let me first remind you of today's situation. At this moment, the restrictions on mobility are being eased and many people are excited to get out. Businesses that have been closed or whose employees have had the ability to work remotely are starting to reopen and are beginning to call employees back to work. Many employers are transitioning at their own pace. Office spaces will need to be prepared for employee social distancing and hygienic work environments. Both will take time and investments. Wearing masks, especially in crowded areas, is important, often required, and becoming the norm. Most people see this common‐sense step as a simple, smart, protective measure.

As we step forward, there is an important realization that the three‐way tension of protecting our heath, restoring our economy, and fulfilling our desire for daily life outside our “shelters” is real and bringing us to a new place. And that place is a new future. My sense is that the world will not return to work in the pre‐COVID‐19 way. Of course, the idea of working remotely has been with us since before COVID‐19, but for the past several months, it has been experienced en masse. As a result, business leaders and employees have learned a lot about working in other places besides the office. Employers will most likely incorporate what they have learned into a new work design.

If more employees are working remotely, will it lead to fewer office buildings or just fewer people in the same building? For water utilities, water demand during COVID‐19 shelter‐at‐home restrictions has shifted away from commercial and industrial uses because employees and workers have been at home. Presumably some of the reduced water demand will return as business resumes, especially where water is used for production and manufacturing. For commercial office areas where employees may be better able to work remotely, this may not be the case. Utilities may have to adjust yet again to another demand pattern.

What about utility employees working remotely? As one utility executive said to me, “I am not sure society is ready for utility employees to work from home after COVID‐19.” I don't know if that will prove to be true, but I think many in society expect that the mayor needs to work at City Hall, the fire chief needs to be at the fire station, and so on for all public servants. The question is, will this societal expectation extend to water utilities? While much of a utility's workforce already works remotely because the work is in the field, other employees traditionally work from a centralized utility headquarters. Time will tell.

While perhaps not surprising to water professionals, COVID‐19 has uniformly shown that utilities will place the good of their community above other priorities. For example, 96% of utilities sacrificed revenue to keep water flowing to their customers, even when those customers had not paid their water bill. Is this a sustainable strategy? Maybe not, but this type of community compassion may be significant as utilities address other complicated societal issues that were looming pre‐COVID‐19.

It will be interesting to see if demographic preferences shift significantly after COVID‐19. Water has always followed where people want to live, and for years water system development has been shaped by the mega‐trend of urbanization. What if, in a post‐COVID‐19 world, the demand for more personal space shifts the urbanization trend toward rural communities? While not unfathomable, this would be a game changer for urban and rural communities. It would certainly change the economic and water realities for both, and it could understandably result in consolidation of smaller rural water suppliers to gain economies of scale to meet growing demand. It could also result in shifting labor trends as urban utility employees follow demographic trends.

The saying, “The future ain't what it used to be,” which is often attributed to Yogi Berra, has never seemed truer than it does right now. Of course, as future members of AWWA, you have the advantage of knowing how our current situation turns out. But for us, well, we are about to start planning a new future—I hope you like it.

Sincerely,

David B. LaFrance

CEO, American Water Works Association

尊敬的AWWA会员，

我第三次写信给您，更多地反映了COVID-19对社会和水务部门的影响。这次，我想重点关注COVID-19之后的未来（即未来）。

首先让我提醒您今天的情况。此时此刻，对交通的限制正在放松，许多人都为能出行而感到兴奋。已经关闭或员工具有远程工作能力的企业开始重新开放，并开始要求员工恢复工作。许多雇主正在按照自己的步调过渡。需要为员工的社交距离和卫生工作环境准备办公空间。两者都需要时间和投资。戴口罩很重要，经常需要，尤其是在拥挤的地方，已成为规范。大多数人将这一常识性步骤视为一种简单，明智，保护性的措施。

随着我们前进，人们已经意识到保护我们的健康，恢复我们的经济以及实现我们对“庇护所”之外日常生活的渴望的三方面紧张是真实的，并将我们带到了一个新的地方。那个地方是一个新的未来。我的感觉是，世界不会以COVID-19之前的方式恢复工作。当然，从COVID-19开始，就一直存在远程工作的想法，但是在过去的几个月中，这种想法得到了广泛的应用。结果，企业领导者和员工在办公室以外的其他地方学到了很多东西。雇主最有可能将他们学到的知识整合到新的工作设计中。

如果有更多的员工在远程工作，这会导致办公楼减少还是同一建筑物中的人数减少？对于自来水公司来说，在COVID-19居所限制期间的用水需求已从商业和工业用途转移，因为员工和工人都在家中。可能会随着业务的恢复而减少一些用水需求，特别是在用水用于生产和制造的情况下。对于员工可能更擅长远程工作的商业办公区域，情况可能并非如此。公用事业可能不得不再次适应另一种需求模式。

公用事业员工如何远程工作呢？正如一位公用事业主管对我说的那样：“我不确定社会准备在COVID-19之后为公用事业员工在家中工作。” 我不知道这是否会成立，但我认为社会上很多人期望市长需要在市政厅工作，消防队长需要在消防局等等，以此类推。问题是，这种社会期望会扩展到自来水公司吗？尽管公用事业公司的大部分员工已经在现场工作，因为他们已经在现场工作，但是其他员工传统上都是在中央公用事业公司总部工作。时间会证明一切。

尽管对水专业人士而言也许并不奇怪，但COVID-19一致表明公用事业将把社区的利益置于其他优先事项之上。例如，即使那些客户没有支付水费，仍有96％的公用事业公司牺牲了收入来保持水流向客户。这是可持续的策略吗？也许不是，但是这种类型的社区同情心可能很重要，因为公用事业可以解决即将在COVID-19之前出现的其他复杂社会问题。

有趣的是，在COVID-19之后，人口统计偏好是否发生了显着变化。水一直跟随着人们想要居住的地方，多年来，水系统的发展一直受到城市化大趋势的影响。在后COVID-19时代的世界中，如果对更多个人空间的需求将城市化趋势转移到农村社区，该怎么办？虽然并非不可思议，但对于城市和农村社区而言，这将改变游戏规则。这肯定会改变两者的经济和水现实，并且可以理解的是，这将导致规模较小的农村水供应商合并，从而获得规模经济，以满足不断增长的需求。随着城市公用事业员工遵循人口趋势，这也可能导致劳动力趋势发生变化。

经常归因于Yogi Berra的俗话说：“未来不再是以前的样子了”，这句话似乎从来没有像现在这样真实。当然，作为AWWA的未来成员，您将拥有知道我们目前情况如何的优势。但是对我们来说，我们将开始计划一个新的未来，希望您喜欢。

真诚的

大卫·B·拉弗朗斯（David B.LaFrance）

美国水务协会首席执行官