Networking and Regional Leadership

摘要

Effective utility leadership sometimes means leading a broader community of drinking water providers. During the past 25 years, a large area of southeast Texas has suffered from geologic subsidence because of a combination of high growth and a historic high degree of dependence on groundwater sources by the water utilities that serve the region. As one of the larger utilities and among the fastest-growing utilities in the region, the City of Sugar Land's (Texas) Utilities Department is at the center of the subsidence issue, literally and figuratively. Securing supply sources while addressing subsidence has been critical for Sugar Land since SuEllen Staggs took over as director of utilities. Staggs' influence extends beyond her own utility: through the subsidence issue and other interagency coordination efforts, she has quietly emerged as a leader in regional water management throughout southeast Texas and beyond.