Water infrastructure in the United States is governed across roughly 51,000 separate systems. Federal funding for it has fallen 40 percent since 1970 -- and new pressures are arriving faster than the system has been able to absorb them. Rob Powelson has spent much of his career inside that system -- and in this conversation, he explains how it actually works.

Powelson spent eight and a half years as a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, served as a federal energy regulator at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and now leads the National Association of Water Companies, the trade group representing private water utilities across the United States. This episode looks at how water utilities are funded and regulated today, what the fragmentation of 51,000 separate systems costs in practice, and how compliance demands around old lead service lines and new PFAS are landing on systems already stretched thin. It also gets into something newer: what the rapid buildout of data centers means for water demand, and where the private sector is seeing room to move into.

This is a conversation for anyone who wants to understand the system behind their water bill -- and why it's under more pressure than many of us understand.

We cover:

00:00 What's behind rising US water bills

04:12 51,000 water systems vs 3,200 electric grids

05:14 Federal water funding down 40% since 1970

06:35 PFAS contamination across thousands of communities

07:56 How AI and data centers strain water systems

08:46 What tech giants are doing about water use

11:59 Suing 3M, DuPont, and Chemours over PFAS

12:36 How rate cases and the PUC work

16:43 Trillions of gallons lost to leaks each year

18:25 Inside the Jackson water crisis

20:02 Why private capital is moving into water

21:36 The utility bill at the kitchen table

Resources:

📰 Read more on the Jackson water crisis: ehn.org/jackson-s-water-crisis-a-tale-of-failed-promises-and-financial-ruin

🧪 Learn about PFAS "forever chemicals": epa.gov/sdwa/proposed-pfoa-and-pfos-compliance-extension-rule

🏛️ Explore how the EPA regulates drinking water: epa.gov

💼 Connect with Rob Powelson on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rob-powelson

🌐 Visit the National Association of Water Companies: nawc.org

Connect with Susan Springsteen:

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/susan-springsteen-58788144

💧 LeakAlertor Pro: leakalertorpro.com

Listen Next:

🎧 Who Sets Your Water Rate and How to Have a Say: Beneath the Water Bill | Ep. 01

About the Host

Susan Springsteen is the founder and CEO of H2O Connected, developer of LeakAlertor product line. With more than two decades in water technology and product development, she brings a practitioner's lens to The Leak in the System, examining the innovations, responsibility, and decisions that shape the future of water.

Every month a water bill arrives. The number on it is the end of a legal process most ratepayers never see.

Darryl Lawrence is the Consumer Advocate for the State of Pennsylvania, an independent state agency whose sole function is to intervene in utility rate cases on the ratepayer's side. In every major water, electric, and gas rate case filed with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, his office files complaints, deposes expert witnesses, challenges return on equity calculations, and advocates for public input hearings across affected service territories.

In this episode, Lawrence walks through how water rate cases are filed and litigated, why the timeline from filing to commission decision is capped at nine months by state law, and why most rate cases are inflated on return on equity rather than infrastructure spending. He explains how the gap between utility-proposed and OCA-proposed return on equity can reach tens of millions of dollars in a single case, why the distinction between on-the-record and off-the-record testimony at a public input hearing determines whether his office can cite what ratepayers say in its formal filings, and what negotiated settlements can deliver that a commission order legally cannot. He also covers what makes public testimony impactful, why turnout at hearings shapes how many hearings get scheduled in future rate cases, and how organized civic pressure has forced utilities to pull contested proposals entirely.

For policymakers, utility professionals, community advocates, and anyone who has received a rate increase notice and wants to understand how water rates are set before the next bill arrives.

What you know changes what's possible.

We cover:

00:00 Why Water Rates Keep Climbing

01:20 Meet Pennsylvania's Consumer Advocate

03:30 Infrastructure Is The Real Driver

04:18 You're Paying For Future Spending Too

06:08 Why Public Input Hearings Matter Most

08:41 On The Record vs. Off The Record

11:32 When 1,000 People Killed A Proposal

12:55 How To Prepare Your Testimony

15:49 You Know Things The Advocates Don't

16:16 Why "Average Bill Impact" Misleads You

22:18 The Nine-Month Legal Clock

22:56 Why Settlements Beat Litigated Outcomes

Resources:

🌐 Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate: oca.pa.gov

📧 Contact the OCA: consumer@paoca.org

Connect with Susan Springsteen:

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/susan-springsteen-58788144

💧 LeakAlertor Pro: leakalertorpro.com

Listen Next:

🎧 Coming soon: Episode 2.

About the Host

Susan Springsteen is the founder and CEO of H2O Connected, developer of LeakAlertor product line. With more than two decades in water technology and product development, she brings a practitioner's lens to The Leak in the System, examining the innovations, responsibility, and decisions that shape the future of water.

You can live three weeks without food. Only three days without water.

The Leak in the System is hosted by Susan Springsteen, founder and CEO of H2O Connected and creator of LeakAlertor Pro. The show follows real-world water systems, uncovering how people, organizations, and innovations shape what happens to water and why it matters. Less than 1% of the Earth's water is readily usable, demand keeps growing, and costs rise every year. Episodes go inside cities navigating crumbling infrastructure, examine why water is becoming harder to afford, and trace how AI and smart technology are reshaping what's possible inside utilities. Reporting draws on practitioner interviews and case studies covering water rate cases, non-revenue water, smart metering deployment, water governance, and water affordability policy. The aim is plain-language understanding of the systems that move, price, and protect water, and the choices being made inside them right now.

For policymakers, utility professionals, and civically engaged listeners who want to understand water infrastructure before the next bill arrives.

What you know changes what's possible.

🎧 Episode 1 goes live next week.

Connect with Susan Springsteen:

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/susan-springsteen-58788144

💧 LeakAlertor Pro: leakalertorpro.com

About the Host

Susan Springsteen is the founder and CEO of H2O Connected, maker of LeakAlertor Pro. With more than two decades in water technology, she brings a practitioner's lens to The Leak in the System, examining the policies, infrastructure, and decisions that shape what comes out of the tap and what it costs.