This month on “Wonderful Water,” join 97.9 The Hill’s Brighton McConnell and Mary Tiger, strategic initiatives manager for OWASA, for a conversation about the ongoing plans and frameworks OWASA has in place to plan for the future.

According to Tiger, the last strategic plan at OWASA was developed for 2014-2015, and the process tends to take shape around a six-to-seven year cycle. Prior strategic planning led directly the implementation of several initiatives and projects, including the “advanced metering infrastructure project” — better known today as Agua Vista.

“[A strategic plan] gives us a chance to be more deliberate in letting the community know that we want to hear from them, so that their voice is involved as we are setting these goals,” said Tiger. “… We always want to make sure that the community is at the center of our decision-making process, so that we’re in step with their needs and their expectations.”

OWASA has a community survey available right now that it encourages customers to give their input on before it closes on September 7.

The survey should not take you very much time to complete,” said Tiger. “About five to seven minutes. And, in exchange, when folks get done taking the survey, they’ll receive a voucher that they can use at either University Lake or Cane Creek Reservoir for free lake access for one day and a free kayak rental.”

Featured image via the Orange Water and Sewer Authority.

You can listen below to the full conversation with Mary Tiger below, and visit the Wonderful Water page here for more interviews and stories about the work OWASA does in our community.


Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents use roughly 7 million gallons of water a day, and “Wonderful Water” is a monthly conversation sponsored by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority highlighting its work to keep our community growing and water flowing.