CENTER FOR URBAN POLICY AND THE ENVIRONMENT - NAWC

Indiana University + School of Public & Environmental AffairsCenter for Urban Policy & the Environment1996 NAWC WATER POLICY FORUMPREFACEThe 1996 Water Policy Forum is the second discussion forum convened by the NationalAssociation of Water Companies. The 1996 Forum follows a highly successful inauguralforum held in 1995. The purpose of the Forum is to engage regulators, water industryleaders, and other prominent stakeholders in an open and meaningful dialogue about the waterindustry and its regulation.The theme for this year's forum was The Future of Commission Regulation of the WaterIndustry. The Forum was held September 22-24, 1996. The first full day of the Forum wasdevoted entirely to a relatively unstructured and comprehensive discussion of issues. On thefollowing day, Forum participants reconvened to videotape three discussion sessions designed tocapture highlights of the previous day's discussion. Each session lasted approximately thirtyminutes in length and was organized around one of the three themes selected for the focuseddiscussion at this year's Forum:Session I: Currents of Change in Public Utilities and Their RegulationSession II: The Value and Price of Water ServiceSession III: The Future of Traditional Economic RegulationAlthough participants drew thoughts and perspectives from the preceding day's discussion,the taped sessions were unrehearsed and unedited. An Executive Summary of the Forum isprovided herein.In preparation for the Forum, participants reviewed the discussion paper prepared by Dr.Janice A. Beecher, which follows the Executive Summary. Five topics are addressed in the 1996discussion paper:I. Currents of Change in Public Utilities and Their RegulationII. The Value and Price of Water ServiceIII. The Emphasis on PerformanceIV. The Future of Traditional Economic RegulationV. Renegotiating the Regulatory ContractThe discussion paper provided Forum participants with general background on key issuesand themes. No conclusions or specific recommendations are made. The idea instead was tostimulate the discussion during the Forum and beyond.The National Association of Water Companies and this year's participants consideredthe 1996 Water Policy Forum a great success in providing a unique opportunity to bringimportant issues to light and share ideas from a variety of different perspectives.