Our Stakeholders

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We regularly engage with our stakeholders to better understand their concerns, needs and expectations for American Water. Our stakeholders are vital to our business, and their feedback informs our policies, practices and programs across our organization. For this report, we engaged internally with subject matter experts to highlight the importance, management approach and performance of our priority topics. Our materiality assessment helped identify other stakeholders that affect our business and groups that our business has an impact on.

This table summarizes the type and frequency of our stakeholder engagement, as well as the key topics that are most important to each stakeholder group.

Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism Engagement Frequency Priority Topics
Communities Community Surveys, Volunteering, Open Houses/Plant Tours/Community Events Monthly Water Infrastructure, Water Use & Efficiency, Local Communities (Indirect Economic Impacts)
Credit Rating Agencies Conferences, Regular Meetings Quarterly Energy & Emissions, Occupational Health & Safety
Customers

Customer Service Orders, Bills, Emails/Texts/Social Media/Calls, Website/Portal, Online Communities, Focus Groups, Surveys

 Daily

Customer Experience, Water Use & Efficiency
Employees Employee Engagement Survey and   Quarterly Pulse Surveys, Town Hall Meetings, Podcasts, Intranet, Labor Management Conference, Job Fairs Daily    Talent Attraction, Engagement & Retention
ESG Rating Agencies Conferences, Meetings Annually All Material Topics
Industry Associations Conferences, Memberships, Meetings Annually         Water Infrastructure, Policy Influence
Investors Conferences, Regular Meetings, Earnings Calls & Investor Presentations Monthly Policy Influence, Water Quality & Emerging Contaminants, Corporate Governance
Regulators Conferences, Meetings, Regulatory Associations Monthly Water Quality & Emerging Contaminants, Water Infrastructure
Suppliers Select Supplier Audits, Supplier Conferences Biannual Supplier Diversity
Unions Labor Management Meetings, National Labor Management Council, Joint Health Care Committee, Labor Management Conference Monthly Occupational Health & Safety, Talent Attraction, Engagement & Retention
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Meetings, Conferences Monthly Policy Influence, Water Infrastructure, Energy & Emissions

Please see the Policy Influence, Customer Experience, Local Communities, Talent Attraction, Engagement & Retention sections in this report for further detail about how we engage with specific stakeholder groups.

Industry Association Memberships

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We belong to many industry organizations at the local, state and national level, including the following national organizations::

  • African American Mayors Association
  • American Water Works Association (AWWA)
  • BlueGreen Alliance
  • Community Leaders of America
  • Democratic Municipal Officials
  • Edison Electric Institute (EEI)
  • National Utilities Diversity Council
  • The National Association of Water Companies (NAWC)
  • U.S. Conference of Mayors Water Council
  • U.S. Water Alliance (including the Value of Water Campaign)
  • Water Environment & Reuse Foundation
  • Water Innovations Alliance Foundation

We are also active members and partners of organizations local to the communities and states we serve. When needed, we work with these organizations to develop formal engagement and communications plans for external groups, including customers, regulators, NGOs and state environmental commissions.