Madison, Wis. – Most of Wisconsin’s water utilities provide safe, healthy drinking water with 92% of the state’s water utilities earning A grades for water quality (health) in a first-of-its-kind water utility report card designed by Professor Manuel P. Teodoro of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Released on March 22, 2025 in honor of World Water Day, the inaugural “Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Project” provides the public with clear, accessible information for 570 water utilities in the state regulated by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC). The report cards include A-F letter grades for multiple subjects—water quality (health), finance, infrastructure & operations, and communications—with each grade based on multiple performance indicators.
While utilities scored high on water quality (health), statewide results for finance and infrastructure & operations raise concerns for sustainability. More than a quarter of Wisconsin utilities scored in the D-F range in the finance category, while about 22% received marks in the D-F range in infrastructure & operations.
“We’re thrilled to finally launch our Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Project, which aims to communicate performance, encourage accountability, and inform policymakers and the public,” Teodoro says. “Wisconsin has a reputation for some of the best drinking water in the country, and this report bears that out. However, it’s critical that we identify areas for improvement so that Wisconsinites may enjoy excellent tap water for generations to come.”
The novel scoring system in the report cards incorporate extensive data from the PSC, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and original data gathered over the last few years by Teodoro and his research team. With empirical evidence of excellence as the central principle behind the project, grades are based on observable outcomes instead of policies or procedures.
Teodoro and his research team consulted experts in each category to establish grading standards for the report cards. Expert panelists included retired utility managers, consultants, scientists, and university professors. Their disciplinary backgrounds included engineering, chemistry, economics, finance, communications, and public management.
“This project differs from previous water utility transparency and reporting efforts in other states in that our report cards provide independent performance assessments, unaligned with any regulatory agency or interest group,” Teodoro says. “More importantly, our project focuses on excellence along with accountability – all packaged in an accessible, easy-to-use report card.”
Teodoro hopes to release the “Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Report” biennially going forward, with a scoring system that could evolve over time to reflect changing realities for Wisconsin’s water utilities. This project was funded in part by the La Follette School’s Herb Kohl Public Service Research Competition, which supports nonpartisan research by La Follette faculty that informs critical public policy and governance debates and advances evidence-based decision-making.
A leading scholar on water policy, Teodoro is co-author of the 2022 book, “The Profits of Distrust: Citizen Consumers, Drinking Water and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government.” The award-winning book explores the relationship between public services like drinking water and confidence in government.
