Veolia Water
David Johns is Regional President at Veolia Idaho Operations. Paul Kjellander is PUF Senior Advisor and former Idaho PUC Chair.
The energy-water nexus is becoming more complicated due to one solution to a problem plaguing electric utilities when there are wildfires. Electric utilities increasingly have realized that Public Safety Power Shutoffs work, but water utilities use electricity to pump water, creating problems for them and those fighting the fires.
Backup generation is used by water utilities but keeping up with the often-long duration of the PSPS during an unpredictable wildfire, brings with it the need for even longer-duration backup power. Of course, it all means that water utilities are facing new challenges precipitated by wildfires.
To bring the issues into focus, Public Utilities Fortnightly's Paul Kjellander talked with an expert on all issues related to provision of water. Veolia Idaho Operations Regional President David Johns has much to say on this important subject.
PUF's Paul Kjellander: Wildfire mitigation initiatives by electric utilities include public safety power shutoffs or PSPS. What impact did that have on your water utility when it experienced a PSPS event this fire season?