With adequate data, a local government’s sustainability goals are within reach

To reach ambitious green environmental goals, cities and counties need good data, says Jennifer Robinson, global government strategic advisor at analytics provider SAS. “Sustainability requires comprehensive knowledge of what has happened, what is happening, and what may happen. Collecting data and sharing it between departments and with other organizations is one of the key elements in understanding past and present events.” Robinson concludes that if they have solid historical data, local governments can then make predictions and forecast future events; they can also run scenarios to virtually test the productivity of various actions. With the data, Robinson explains: “Local governments can optimize their performance and outcomes.”

Robinson, who also serves on the Cary (N.C.) Town Council, says her community has been working to put its data to work in a variety of ways that promote sustainability. “One project involved replacing the entire inventory of water meters with automated meter readers which send hourly data from each property to the town. Cary went from having 69,000 meter reads a month to over 1.6 million meter reads.”

The enhanced input is key, Robinson believes. “This granular data has enabled the utility department to understand the impact of drought and weather events on water consumption, identify anomalous water use (such as a result of a leak or a faulty toilet flap), and forecast future demands on the water plant.”

Cary town administrators have also installed sensors on streams and in wetlands to understand flooding in real time. “This information enables better emergency response and provides insight that guides planning for stormwater remediation activities,” Robinson adds.

She notes that she and her peers in elected office sometimes operate on gut instinct. “Sometimes we rely on conjecture and say, ‘I think we should do this.’” Robinson’s conclusion: “Data analytics give elected officials the ability to say, ‘I know we should do this.’ In the case of many aspects of sustainability, trial and error is extremely costly and, sometimes it results in property loss, injury, or death. Being able to predict and forecast can be critical.”

Robinson says Cary has been an early adopter of technology, such as dynamic traffic signals, acquisition of an electric waste truck, Tesla police cars, and idle-reduction devices on fire trucks. “But we also want to make it easy for our citizens and businesses to practice sustainability. Roll-out recycling carts, recycling audits, a food waste drop-off program and a cooking oil pick-up program have assisted in diverting over 46 percent of waste from the landfill.” She adds that the town’s Aquastar web application for water use gives citizens hourly information about their water consumption. “Our tree give-away program has resulted in over 1,000 4- to 8-foot trees to be planted by residents.”

In addition to her work on the Cary Town Council, Robinson says her career with SAS enables her to interact with local governments around the country to find ways to apply analytics. SAS offers a number of solutions for the public sector. Some of the sustainability trends she is seeing and hearing include local governments:
• striving to be resilient in the face of major uncertainties such as inflation, workforce shortages, contractor shortages and rising interest rates.
• dealing with major weather events such as flooding, drought, extreme heat or wildfires;
• implementing data and digital technology to be more nimble and responsive to their citizens;
• seeking ways to increase EV charging capacity;
• installing alternative energy sources such as solar; and
• concerned about their tree canopy and interested in looking to address carbon dioxide emissions.

Robinson says it is crucial that elected bodies state their position on sustainability. She believes that this single step sets the foundation for examining policies to promote sustainability; the step also enables the inclusion of sustainability projects in the town’s budget. She offers these additional steps:

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Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact him at [email protected].