Within the next 10 years, 35% of current utility employees will be eligible to retire. Most of these retirees are senior employees, with many years of experience and a wealth of institutional and operational knowledge.

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This paper discusses how higher levels of customer satisfaction within the water supply industry can have far‐reaching consequences ranging from less outsourcing of municipal utilities to decreased regulation of the industry. A study recently completed by the AWWA Research Foundation identified the most common customer service problems faced by utilities and tracked down solutions used by successful customer‐driven programs from both within and outside the water community. The lessons learned from those programs have led to development of practical, implementable guidance designed to help every utility improve its customer service. The study incorporates case histories, industry standards, performance benchmarks, technology information, and best practices in one easy‐to‐use tool kit.

The one area in every utility that any customer can knowledgeably compare to world class organizations is the customer contact center. With the enormous advances in customer contact center technologies and the heightened awareness of the importance of customer service and satisfaction, water and wastewater utilities can significantly expand and optimize the customer contact center into a utility wide resource which increases levels of service, promotes customer satisfaction and, ultimately, reduces costs to the utility. The Water Research Foundation will soon be publishing a study "Optimizing the Water Utility Customer Contact Center" which will provide a toolkit for utilities making the transition from today's call center to the optimized customer contact center of the future.