American Water, the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the U.S., joined the U.S. Conference of Mayors Fall 2026 Mayors Water Council Meeting held on 8 and 9 October 2026 in Livermore, California, according to a company announcement carried on 9 October 2026 by Morningstar. The Camden, N.J.-based utility sent two California-market executives to speak on affordability, infrastructure investment, regionalization and PFAS treatment technology evaluation.
Key takeaways
- American Water took part in the U.S. Conference of Mayors Fall 2026 Mayors Water Council Meeting in Livermore, California, on 8-9 October 2026, per Morningstar.
- Sarah Leeper, President of California and Hawaii American Water, addressed affordability, infrastructure investment, regulatory compliance, system resiliency and regionalization, per Morningstar.
- Lacy Carothers, Senior Director Engineering at California American Water, sat on the "PFAS - Regulatory, Operational, and Legal Landscape" panel to discuss treatment technology evaluation and deployment, per Morningstar.
- The two-day meeting was hosted by Livermore Mayor John Marchand and convened mayors, city leaders, subject-matter experts, business leaders and regulators, per Morningstar.
- American Water, listed on the NYSE as AWK, serves approximately 14 million people through regulated operations in 14 states and on 19 military installations, per Morningstar.
What happened
The U.S. Conference of Mayors Fall 2026 Mayors Water Council Meeting convened in Livermore, California, on 8 and 9 October 2026, hosted by Livermore Mayor John Marchand and bringing together mayors, city leaders, subject-matter experts, business leaders and regulators to discuss the major water and wastewater policies and issues facing U.S. cities, according to Morningstar.
American Water announced it was joining those discussions through two speakers, per Morningstar. Sarah Leeper, President of California and Hawaii American Water, was scheduled to speak to the company's experience partnering with communities on affordability, infrastructure investment, regulatory compliance and long-term system resiliency, and to share examples of regionalization as a practical path for systems that need sustained capital, specialized expertise, expanded customer support and stronger operating capacity.
Lacy Carothers, Senior Director Engineering at California American Water, was confirmed for the "PFAS - Regulatory, Operational, and Legal Landscape" panel, where she discussed PFAS treatment options and American Water's experience evaluating and deploying treatment technologies, per Morningstar. The source did not name specific treatment processes, vendors, flow rates or capital figures tied to those projects.
American Water, headquartered in Camden, N.J., and listed on the NYSE as AWK, describes itself as the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States, with a history dating back to 1886 and approximately 7,000 professionals serving approximately 14 million people through regulated operations in 14 states and on 19 military installations, per Morningstar. No procurement awards, contract values or new-build capacities were disclosed in the supplied source.
Specification read
The supplied source does not report a project scale, design flow, contaminant concentration or unit cost for any of the PFAS or regionalization work referenced at the meeting, so a quantitative read for a specific plant cannot be derived from the available text. The engineering signal is qualitative: a major U.S. utility used the mayors' forum to argue that regionalization can deliver sustained capital, specialized expertise, expanded customer support and stronger operating capacity to a community system that needs them, and to showcase how it is evaluating and deploying PFAS treatment technologies through a senior engineering voice. For a plant manager running a small or mid-sized Municipal system, the practical implication is that vendor and utility conversations are likely to keep circling back to two questions that came up on the agenda: how to fund multi-year capital programmes without ballooning customer bills, and how to qualify a PFAS treatment train against tightening state and federal limits — see the framing in our POP-Compliant PFAS Removal Services in 2026: Buyer's Guide and the comparator work in Nickel Removal Methods Comparison 2026: Industrial Wastewater Processes.
Engineering interpretation: if your municipal plant is facing customer-affordability pressure, an aging interceptor or treatment asset that needs sustained capital, or an incoming PFAS limit that requires a new adsorption, ion-exchange or membrane stage ahead of discharge, the meeting's signal is that a regionalization partner and a pre-qualified PFAS treatment technology package are both being positioned by large utilities as credible responses. The source does not give a class of flow in m³/day, a BOD/COD loading in mg/L, or a per-customer cost figure, so any sizing or pricing decision will need a separate scoping exercise against your own plant data.
FAQ
What did American Water announce at the October 2026 Mayors Water Council Meeting?
American Water confirmed it was joining the meeting and named two executives who would speak on regionalization and on PFAS treatment technology evaluation, per Morningstar. No new project award, contract value or design capacity was disclosed in the supplied source.
Was a specific PFAS treatment technology or vendor named?
No. The supplied source only states that Lacy Carothers discussed treatment options and American Water's experience evaluating and deploying treatment technologies, without naming a process train, a media supplier or a flow rate, per Morningstar.
How would a municipal plant act on the regionalization message?
Regionalization was framed as a way to secure sustained capital, specialized expertise, expanded customer support and stronger operating capacity, per Morningstar. The supplied source does not give a per-customer cost, a transfer timeline or a lead time, so any such decision would need its own feasibility study.
Where can I read the meeting agenda and full speaker list?
The U.S. Conference of Mayors hosts the meeting page at its own site, as referenced in the source carried by Morningstar. The supplied source does not publish a written programme or panel transcript beyond the names and topics quoted above.
