Utilities are one of the clearest ways residents experience local government. Most of the time, water, energy, and waste systems run quietly in the background. But when a storm stalls over a city or a heat wave lasts for days, those systems move to the front line.
People ask simple, high-stakes questions. Are pumping stations still powered? Is the water safe to drink? When a boil water notice arrives, do residents trust it? As the community grows, are today’s decisions reducing risk or locking it in?
Across the country, FUSE Executive Fellows have partnered with city and county leaders to modernize water, energy, and waste systems. These projects strengthen resilience. They also improve reliability, affordability, and community trust.
Below is what this work looks like, and why it matters for prospective hosts.
The challenges utilities are facing right now:
Local utilities and public works teams are dealing with pressures that stack on each other.
- Climate impacts are intensifying. Extreme rain and heat are pushing systems beyond what they were built for, especially in coastal and river cities.
- Growth is an increasing risk. Fast development is shrinking natural buffers. In Fort Worth, open space has been disappearing at a rate of roughly 50 acres per week. This raises flood risk in the Trinity River corridor.
- Energy costs are straining water operations. Water systems are often among a city’s biggest power users. In New Orleans, the Sewerage and Water Board is one of the region’s largest energy consumers because treatment and drainage demand so much power.
- Affordability and equity concerns deepen when systems fail. Durham’s water utility has been modernizing while responding to economic disparities. The city has a 15.2 percent poverty rate and high water cost burdens for households with lower incomes.
Leaders already know what needs to change, but delivering that change is often the hard part. Many agencies lack the staff time and specialized expertise necessary to design, fund, and implement solutions that span multiple departments.
What partnering with FUSE looks like for utilities and resilience teams:
FUSE partners with local governments to embed an Executive Fellow full-time for one year. Fellows are seasoned leaders. They join the host agency to drive a clearly defined priority from planning through delivery.
For utilities and infrastructure resilience teams, this partnership provides two immediate benefits. It adds technical depth. It also adds day-to-day execution capacity.
Fellows work alongside staff and leadership. They connect public works, planning, finance, and community partners. That alignment is often what makes progress possible.
Across recent projects, Fellows have helped hosts:
- Turn complex technical risk into clear, achievable operational priorities.
- Build durable systems and processes that last beyond the fellowship year.
- Improve transparency and communication with residents, especially during high-stress events.
What implementation has looked like in the field:
New Orleans: strengthening water, drainage, and energy efficiency (2017 to 2019, 2023 to 2024)
From 2017 to 2019, FUSE Executive Fellow Priya Dey Sarkar partnered with the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans during a period of intense climate stress. She helped stabilize drinking water and drainage operations, supported work to identify large-scale power alternatives, and strengthened process safety. That fellowship built stronger data and operational foundations that improved storm response and public communication.
New Orleans later built on that progress through the Energy Efficiency in Water Utilities project. During the 2023-2024 fellowship year, Executive Fellow Lana Lovick analyzed SWBNO’s energy use, identified priority opportunities to reduce consumption, and led the early implementation of energy efficiency upgrades across the facilities.
Together, these past projects show how FUSE Executive Fellows can help utilities modernize core systems, lower long-term operating and energy costs, and strengthen trust in essential public services.
Durham: modernizing water energy performance and sustainable waste systems (2023 to 2024, current)
During the 2023 to 2024 fellowship year, FUSE Executive Fellow Kathleen Hunt partnered with Durham on Designing a Sustainable Solution to Waste Management. She engaged stakeholders, analyzed models, and helped shape an Ecopark concept grounded in local data and community input. She also strengthened public communication to build trust and participation. The result was a plan designed to move forward with residents, not around them.
Durham is building on that momentum through a current utilities project focused on water system energy performance. Executive Fellow Charity Tuseko Muwowo Sindano is leading the Water Management Energy Efficiency project. During her fellowship term, she is conducting SWOT analyses, advancing process improvements at treatment facilities, exploring alternative energy sources, and developing precise metering dashboards. This work is designed to reduce utility energy costs and emissions while protecting long-term affordability for Durham residents.
Jacksonville and Fort Worth: reducing flood risk through standards and land use (2023 to 2025)
Jacksonville launched a project to create climate-resilient infrastructure design standards. During the 2024-2025 fellowship cycle, Executive Fellow Michael Buonvino worked towards delivering the Climate Resilient Design Guidelines by April 2025.
Fort Worth took a complementary approach. Beginning in October 2023, Executive Fellow AJ Prebensen researched riparian corridor regulations and benchmarked peer city practices. His 2023-2024 fellowship informed draft ordinance updates to protect flood-mitigating open space while accommodating growth.
Together, these projects demonstrate how FUSE Executive Fellows help cities mitigate risk before disasters strike by aligning engineering standards, planning policies, and community priorities.
What prospective hosts can take from these examples:
These projects point to one lesson. Resilience and trust grow together.
Strong utility transformations happen when agencies can:
- See risk clearly through better data, dashboards, and safety systems.
- Act across silos by linking water operations with energy, planning, finance, land use, and community engagement.
- Communicate early and honestly about constraints, progress, and what residents can expect.
FUSE Executive Fellows accelerate all three. They deliver a defined priority within one year. They also leave behind internal capacity that continues to serve the community.
If your city, county, or utility is tackling a high-stakes resilience challenge, a FUSE Executive Fellow can help. This includes energy-intensive water operations, flood risk mitigation, and sustainable waste strategy.
Let’s talk about what a Fellowship could deliver for your utility, your residents, and your long-term resilience goals.
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