UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from             to            

Commission file number: 001-34028

AMERICAN WATER WORKS COMPANY, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	51-0063696
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

1 Water Street, Camden, NJ 08102-1658

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

(856) 955-4001

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class	Trading Symbol	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, par value $0.01 per share	AWK	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.     Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer	☒	Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer	☐	Smaller reporting company	☐
		Emerging growth company	☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

Common Stock, $0.01 par value—$18,615,800,000 as of June 28, 2019 (solely for purposes of calculating this aggregate market value, American Water has defined its affiliates to include (i) those persons who were, as of June 28, 2019, its executive officers, directors or known beneficial owners of more than 10% of its common stock, and (ii) such other persons who were deemed, as of June 28, 2019, to be controlled by, or under common control with, American Water or any of the persons described in clause (i) above).

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock as of the latest practicable date: Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share—180,974,719 shares as of February 13, 2020.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the American Water Works Company, Inc. definitive proxy statement for the 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2019 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

		Page
Forward-Looking Statements		1
	Part I
Item 1.	Business	4
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	20
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	35
Item 2.	Properties	36
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	36
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	42
	Part II
Item 5.	Market For Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	43
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	43
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	44
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	71
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	73
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	126
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	126
Item 9B.	Other Information	127
	Part III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers of the Registrant and Corporate Governance	128
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	128
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	128
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	128
Item 14.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	128
	Part IV
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	129
Exhibit Index		129
Signatures		134

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements included in Item 1—Business, Item 1A—Risk Factors, and Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and in other sections of this Form 10-K, or incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by words with prospective meanings such as “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “predict,” “project,” “propose,” “assume,” “forecast,” “likely,” “uncertain,” “outlook,” “future,” “pending,” “goal,” “objective,” “potential,” “continue,” “seek to,” “may,” “can,” “should,” “will” and “could” or the negative of such terms or other variations or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things: the Company’s future financial performance; liquidity and future cash flows; rate and revenue adjustments, including through general rate case filings, filings for infrastructure surcharges and other governmental agency authorizations and filings to address regulatory lag; growth and portfolio optimization strategies, including the timing and outcome of pending or future acquisition activity, the completion of the announced sale of New York American Water Company, Inc. and the amount of proceeds anticipated to be received therefrom; the amount and allocation of projected capital expenditures and related funding requirements; the Company’s ability to repay or refinance debt; the ability to execute its current and long-term business, operational and capital expenditures strategies; its ability to finance current operations, capital expenditures and growth initiatives by accessing the debt and equity capital markets; the outcome and impact on the Company of legal and similar governmental and regulatory proceedings and related potential fines, penalties and other sanctions; the ability to complete, and the timing and efficacy of, the design, development, implementation and improvement of technology and other strategic initiatives; the ability to capitalize on existing or future utility privatization opportunities; trends in the industries in which the Company operates, including macro trends with respect to the Company’s efforts related to customer, technology and work execution; regulatory, legislative, tax policy or legal developments; and projected impacts that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”) may have on the Company and on its business, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

Forward-looking statements are predictions based on the Company’s current expectations and assumptions regarding future events. They are not guarantees or assurances of any outcomes, financial results, levels of activity, performance or achievements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon them. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. The Company’s actual results may vary materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements included herein as a result of the factors discussed under Item 1A—Risk Factors, and the following important factors:

• the decisions of governmental and regulatory bodies, including decisions to raise or lower customer rates;

• the timeliness and outcome of regulatory commissions’ actions concerning rates, capital structure, authorized return on equity, capital investment, system acquisitions and dispositions, taxes, permitting and other decisions;

• changes in customer demand for, and patterns of use of, water, such as may result from conservation efforts;

• limitations on the availability of the Company’s water supplies or sources of water, or restrictions on its use thereof, resulting from allocation rights, governmental or regulatory requirements and restrictions, drought, overuse or other factors;

• changes in laws, governmental regulations and policies, including with respect to environmental, health and safety, consumer privacy, water quality and water quality accountability, emerging contaminants, public utility and tax regulations and policies, and impacts resulting from U.S., state and local elections;

• weather conditions and events, climate variability patterns, and natural disasters, including drought or abnormally high rainfall, prolonged and abnormal ice or freezing conditions, strong winds, coastal and intercoastal flooding, earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, electrical storms, sinkholes and solar flares;

• the outcome of litigation and similar governmental and regulatory proceedings, investigations or actions;

• the risks associated with the Company’s aging infrastructure, and its ability to appropriately maintain and replace current infrastructure, including its operational and technology systems, and manage the expansion of its businesses;

• exposure or infiltration of the Company’s technology and critical infrastructure systems, including the disclosure of sensitive, personal or confidential information contained therein, through physical or cyber attacks or other means;

• the Company’s ability to obtain permits and other approvals for projects;

• changes in the Company’s capital requirements;

• the Company’s ability to control operating expenses and to achieve operating efficiencies;

• the intentional or unintentional actions of a third party, including contamination of the Company’s water supplies or water provided to its customers;

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• the Company’s ability to obtain adequate and cost-effective supplies of chemicals, electricity, fuel, water and other raw materials;

• the Company’s ability to successfully meet growth projections for the Regulated Businesses and the Market-Based Businesses (each as defined in this Form 10-K), either individually or in the aggregate, and capitalize on growth opportunities, including, among other things, with respect to:

• acquiring, closing and successfully integrating regulated operations and market-based businesses;

• entering into contracts and other agreements with, or otherwise obtaining, new customers or partnerships in the Market-Based Businesses; and

• realizing anticipated benefits and synergies from new acquisitions;

• risks and uncertainties associated with contracting with the U.S. government, including ongoing compliance with applicable government procurement and security regulations;

• cost overruns relating to improvements in or the expansion of the Company’s operations;

• the Company’s ability to successfully develop and implement new technologies and to protect related intellectual property;

• the Company’s ability to maintain safe work sites;

• the Company’s exposure to liabilities related to environmental laws and similar matters resulting from, among other things, water and wastewater service provided to customers;

• changes in general economic, political, business and financial market conditions;

• access to sufficient capital on satisfactory terms and when and as needed to support operations and capital expenditures;

• fluctuations in interest rates;

• restrictive covenants in or changes to the credit ratings on the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or on any of their current or future indebtedness, that could increase the Company’s financing costs or funding requirements or affect the ability to borrow, make payments on debt or pay dividends;

• fluctuations in the value of benefit plan assets and liabilities that could increase the Company’s cost and funding requirements;

• changes in federal or state general, income and other tax laws, including any further rules, regulations, interpretations and guidance by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and state or local taxing authorities (collectively, the “Related Interpretations”) related to the enactment of the TCJA, the availability of tax credits and tax abatement programs, and the Company’s ability to utilize its U.S. federal and state income tax net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards;

• migration of customers into or out of the Company’s service territories;

• the use by municipalities of the power of eminent domain or other authority to condemn the systems of one or more of the Company’s utility subsidiaries, or the assertion by private landowners of similar rights against such utility subsidiaries;

• any difficulty or inability to obtain insurance for the Company, its inability to obtain insurance at acceptable rates and on acceptable terms and conditions, or its inability to obtain reimbursement under existing insurance programs and coverages for any losses sustained;

• the incurrence of impairment charges related to the Company’s goodwill or other assets;

• labor actions, including work stoppages and strikes;

• the Company’s ability to retain and attract qualified employees;

• civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts, or public apprehension about future disturbances or terrorist threats or acts; and

• the impact of new, and changes to existing, accounting standards.

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These forward-looking statements are qualified by, and should be read together with, the risks and uncertainties set forth above and the risk factors included in Item 1A—Risk Factors and other statements contained in this Form 10-K, and readers should refer to such risks, uncertainties and risk factors in evaluating such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements the Company makes shall speak only as of the date this Form 10-K was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Except as required by the federal securities laws, the Company does not have any obligation, and it specifically disclaims any undertaking or intention, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all such factors. Furthermore, it may not be possible to assess the impact of any such factor on the Company’s businesses, either viewed independently or together, or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

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PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

The Company

With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse, publicly-traded water and wastewater utility company in the United States, as measured by both operating revenues and population served. A holding company originally incorporated in Delaware in 1936, the Company employs approximately 6,800 professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to approximately 15 million people in 46 states. The Company conducts the majority of its business through regulated utilities that provide water and wastewater services, collectively presented as the “Regulated Businesses.” The Company also operates market-based businesses that provide complementary services. Individually, these businesses do not meet the criteria of a reportable segment in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), and are collectively presented as the “Market-Based Businesses,” which is consistent with how management assesses the results of these businesses.

Throughout this Form 10-K, unless the context otherwise requires, references to “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” and “American Water” mean American Water Works Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries, taken together as a whole. References to “parent company” mean American Water Works Company, Inc., without its subsidiaries.

Regulated Businesses

The Company’s primary business involves the ownership of utilities that provide water and wastewater services to residential, commercial, industrial, public authority, fire service and sale for resale customers. The Company’s utilities operate in approximately 1,700 communities in 16 states in the United States, with over 3.4 million active customers in its water and wastewater networks. Services provided by the Company’s utilities are subject to regulation by multiple state utility commissions or other entities engaged in utility regulation, collectively referred to as public utility commissions (“PUCs”). Federal, state and local governments also regulate environmental, health and safety, and water quality matters. The Company reports the results of the services provided by its utilities in the Regulated Businesses segment. Operating revenues for the Regulated Businesses were $3,094 million for 2019, $2,984 million for 2018 and $2,958 million for 2017, accounting for 86%, 87% and 88%, respectively, of the Company’s total operating revenues for the same periods.

Presented in the table below is a geographic summary of the Regulated Businesses’ operating revenues and the number of customers the Company serves, by type of service, for and as of the year ended December 31, 2019:

	Operating Revenues (in millions)								Number of Customers (in thousands)
	Water (a)		Wastewater		Total		% of Total		Water	Wastewater	Total	% of Total
New Jersey	$	718	$	42	$	760	24.6	%	651	51	702	20.4	%
Pennsylvania	627		62		689		22.3	%	666	74	740	21.6	%
Missouri	314		11		325		10.5	%	470	15	485	14.1	%
Illinois	281		24		305		9.9	%	286	51	337	9.8	%
California	228		4		232		7.5	%	177	3	180	5.2	%
Indiana	223		1		224		7.2	%	314	2	316	9.2	%
West Virginia	158		1		159		5.1	%	166	1	167	4.9	%
Total—Top Seven States (b)	2,549		145		2,694		87.1	%	2,730	197	2,927	85.2	%
Other states (c)	378		22		400		12.9	%	475	32	507	14.8	%
Total Regulated Businesses	$	2,927	$	167	$	3,094	100.0	%	3,205	229	3,434	100.0	%

(a) Includes other operating revenues consisting primarily of miscellaneous utility charges, fees and rents.

(b) The Company’s “Top Seven States” are determined based upon operating revenues.

(c) Includes the Company’s utilities in the following states: Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Tennessee and Virginia.

Customers

The Company’s Regulated Businesses have a large and geographically diverse customer base. A customer is defined as a person, business, municipality or any other entity that purchases the Company’s water or wastewater services as of the last business day of a reporting period. One single customer may purchase the Company’s services for use by multiple individuals or businesses, such as homes, apartment complexes, businesses and governmental entities.

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The vast majority of the Company’s regulated water customers are metered, which allows the Company to measure and bill for its customers’ water usage, typically on a monthly basis. The Company employs a variety of methods of customer meter reading to monitor consumption. These methods range from meters with mechanical registers where consumption is manually recorded by meter readers, to meters with electronic registers capable of transmitting consumption data to proximity devices or via radio frequency to mobile or fixed network data collectors. The Company’s wastewater customers are billed either a flat rate or based upon their water consumption.

Residential customers make up a substantial portion of the Company’s customer base in all of the states in which it operates. The Company also serves (i) commercial customers, such as food and beverage providers, commercial property developers and proprietors, and energy suppliers, (ii) fire service customers, where the Company supplies water through its distribution systems to public fire hydrants for firefighting purposes and to private fire customers for use in fire suppression systems in office buildings and other facilities, (iii) industrial customers, such as large-scale manufacturers, mining and production operations, (iv) public authorities, such as government buildings and other public sector facilities, including schools and universities, and (v) other utilities and community water and wastewater systems in the form of bulk contracts for the supply of water or the treatment of wastewater, for their own customers.

The following chart depicts the allocation of the Company’s Regulated Businesses’ operating revenue of $3,094 million by type, including a breakout of the total water services revenues by class of customer, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

(a) Includes water revenues from public authorities and other utilities and community water systems under bulk contracts.

(b) Includes other operating revenues consisting primarily of miscellaneous utility charges, fees and rents.

Presented in the table below is the number of water and wastewater customers the Company served by class as of December 31:

	2019		2018		2017
(In thousands)	Water	Wastewater	Water	Wastewater	Water	Wastewater
Residential	2,914	215	2,892	188	2,872	182
Commercial	222	13	222	11	221	11
Fire service	49	—	48	—	47	—
Industrial	4	—	4	—	4	—
Public and other (a)	16	1	16	1	16	—
Total	3,205	229	3,182	200	3,160	193

(a) Includes public authorities and other utilities and community water and wastewater systems under bulk contracts. Bulk contracts, which are accounted for as a single customer in the table above, generally result in service to multiple customers.

5

Customer growth in the Company’s Regulated Businesses is primarily from (i) adding new customers to its customer base through acquisitions of water and/or wastewater utility systems, (ii) population growth in its authorized service areas, and (iii) sale of water to other water utilities and community water systems.

Capital Investment

Excluding acquisitions, the Company plans to invest $8.2 billion over the next five years and between $18 billion and $19 billion over the next 10 years, including $1.6 billion in 2020, for capital improvements to its Regulated Businesses’ water and wastewater infrastructure, largely for pipe replacement and upgrading aging water and wastewater treatment facilities. The Company has proactively improved its pipe renewal rate from a 250-year replacement cycle in 2009 to an expected 115-year replacement cycle by 2024, which it anticipates will enable the Company to replace nearly 2,000 miles of mains and collection pipes between 2020 and 2024. In addition, from 2020 to 2024, the Company’s capital investment in treatment plants, storage tanks and other key, above-ground facilities is expected to increase, further addressing infrastructure renewal, resiliency, water quality, operational efficiency, technology and innovation, and emerging regulatory compliance needs. Additionally, the Company is investing significantly in resiliency projects to address the impacts of climate and weather variability by hardening its assets. Recently completed projects include the $25 million raised floodwall project at New Jersey’s Raritan Millstone Water Treatment Plant which provides protection against a 500 year flood, and the $15 million Bel Air, Maryland Reservoir project which provides 90 million gallons of drought mitigation water storage for the region.

Regulation and Rate Making

The operations of the Company’s Regulated Businesses are generally subject to regulation by PUCs in the states in which they operate, with the primary responsibility of the PUCs to promote the overall public interest by balancing the interest of customers and utility investors. Specific authority might differ from state to state, but in most states, PUCs review and approve rates charged to customers, accounting treatments, long-term financing programs and cost of capital, operation and maintenance (“O&M”) expenses, capital expenditures, taxes, affiliated transactions and relationships, reorganizations and mergers and acquisitions, along with imposing certain penalties or granting certain incentives. Regulatory policies vary from state to state and could potentially change over time. These policies will affect the timing, as well as the extent, of recovery of expenses and the realized return on invested capital.

Periodic changes in customer rates generally occur through the filing of a rate case by the utility with the PUC. The timing of rate case filings is typically determined by either periodic requirements in the regulatory jurisdiction or by the utility’s need to increase its revenue requirement to recover capital investment costs, changes in operating revenues, operating costs or other market conditions. The Company attempts to minimize “regulatory lag,” which is the time between the occurrence of an event that triggers a change in the utility’s revenue requirement and its recognition in rates.

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The Company’s Regulated Businesses support regulatory practices at the PUCs and state legislatures that mitigate the adverse impact of regulatory lag. Presented in the table below are examples of approved regulatory practices:

Regulatory Practices	Description	States Allowed
Infrastructure replacement surcharges	Allows rates to change periodically, outside a general rate case proceeding, to reflect recovery of capital investments made to replace infrastructure necessary to sustain safe, reliable services for the Company’s customers. These mechanisms typically involve periodic filings and reviews to ensure transparency.	IA, IL, IN, KY, MO, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV
Future test year	A test period used for setting rates, which begins with the date new rates are effective. This allows current or projected revenues, expenses and capital investments to be collected on a more timely basis.	CA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KY, NY, PA, TN, VA
Hybrid test year	Allows an update to historical data for “known and measurable” changes that occur subsequent to the historical test year.	MD, MO, NJ, WV
Utility plant recovery mechanisms	Allows recovery of the full return on utility plant costs during the construction period, instead of capitalizing an allowance for funds used during construction. In addition, some states allow the utility to seek pre-approval of certain capital projects and associated costs. In this pre-approval process, the PUC may assess the prudency of such projects.	CA, IL, KY, NY, PA, TN, VA
Expense mechanisms	Allows changes in certain operating expenses, which may fluctuate based on conditions beyond the utility’s control, to be recovered outside of a general rate case proceeding or deferred until the next general rate case proceeding.	CA, IL, MD, MO, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA
Revenue stability mechanisms	Separates a utility’s cost recovery from the amount of water it sells to recover its fixed costs and ongoing infrastructure investment needs. Such a mechanism adjusts rates periodically to ensure that a utility’s revenue will be sufficient to cover its costs, regardless of sales volume, including recognition of declining sales resulting from reduced consumption, while providing an incentive for customers to use water more efficiently.	CA, IL, NY
Consolidated tariffs	Use of a unified rate structure for water systems owned and operated by a single utility, which may or may not be physically interconnected. The consolidated tariff pricing structure may be used fully or partially in a state, and is generally used to prioritize capital investments and moderate the impact of periodic fluctuations in local costs, while lowering administrative costs for customers. Pennsylvania also permits a blending of water and wastewater revenue requirements.	CA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MO, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV

The Company pursues enhancement to these regulatory practices to facilitate efficient recovery of its costs and capital investments in order to continue to provide safe, clean, reliable and affordable services to its customers. The ability to seek regulatory treatment as described above does not guarantee that the PUCs will accept the Company’s proposal in the context of a particular rate case, and these regulatory practices may reduce, but not eliminate, regulatory lag associated with traditional rate making processes. It is also the Company’s strategy to expand the use of these mechanisms in areas where they may not currently apply.

Acquisitions and Strategic Growth

The U.S. water and wastewater industries include investor-owned systems as well as municipal systems that are owned and operated by local governments or governmental subdivisions. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), as of 2017, approximately 84% of the water market is served by municipal systems and approximately 98% of the country’s wastewater systems are government owned. The EPA also estimates that there are approximately 50,000 community water systems and approximately 15,000 community wastewater systems in the United States, with approximately 80% of the community water systems serving a population of 3,000 or less.

A fundamental aspect of the Company’s growth strategy is to pursue acquisitions of small and medium water and/or wastewater systems in geographic proximity to areas where the Company operates its Regulated Businesses. The proximity of acquisition opportunities to the Company’s regulated footprint allows it to integrate and manage the acquired systems and operations primarily using its existing management, although the Company typically retains the majority, if not all, of the employees, and to achieve operational efficiencies and prioritize capital investment needs. The Company’s current customer mix of 93% water and 7% wastewater also presents strategic opportunities for wastewater growth and systems consolidation, allowing it to add wastewater customers where the Company already serves water customers. The Company intends to continue to expand its regulated footprint geographically by acquiring water and wastewater systems in its existing markets and, if appropriate, pursuing acquisition opportunities in certain domestic markets where the Company does not currently operate its Regulated Businesses. Before entering new regulated markets, the Company will evaluate the business and regulatory climates to ensure that it will have the opportunity to achieve an appropriate rate of return on its investment while maintaining its high standards for providing safe, reliable and affordable services to its customers, as well as a line of sight to grow the Company’s base customers to attain efficiencies after entering the new domestic market.

Increasingly stringent environmental, health and safety, and water quality regulations, the amount of infrastructure in need of significant capital investment, financial challenges and industry legislation are several elements that may drive more municipalities to consider selling their water and wastewater assets.

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Industry Legislation

In 2017, New Jersey enacted the Water Quality Accountability Act (the “WQAA”), which sets operational standards for all water utilities in New Jersey, including municipal and investor-owned utilities with more than 500 service connections. This law imposes requirements in areas such as cybersecurity, asset management, water quality reporting, remediation of notices of violation, and hydrant and valve maintenance. The WQAA requires the most senior water manager, or either the executive director for municipal utility authorities or the mayor or chief executive officer for municipally owned public water systems, to certify that the system meets the requirements under the WQAA. In 2019, the New Jersey Senate held three hearings on the WQAA and is expected to introduce legislation in the new 2020 legislative session that would strengthen accountability for obligations under the WQAA.

In 2018, similar legislation was passed in Indiana that set new operational requirements for water and wastewater treatment plants as part of the permitting process for construction, installation, or modification of sources, facilities, equipment or devices. These requirements include capital asset management plans that include annual reviews of infrastructure needs, engineering analysis of useful life, and a rate analysis to support the capital asset management plan. A life cycle cost-benefit analysis must be done comparing owning and operating a plant to other alternatives to supply water or wastewater services. Cybersecurity plans must also be developed. In 2019, additional legislation was passed which set requirements for access to loans or grants such as participation in regional planning events, use of current capital asset management programs, and elimination of the causes of non-revenue water. The finance authority was also required to establish project prioritization that included consideration of project effects on public health and safety, user rates and charges, plans for collaboration, plans to manage non-revenue water and use of best practices.

Also, in 2018, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 was signed into law. The legislation includes policies intended to improve water and wastewater system management and authorization for states to assess consolidation options for systems that do not comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and its rules and regulations. The legislation increases funding to water system funding programs, including the State Revolving Loan Fund program and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (“WIFIA”).

The Company’s regulated subsidiaries in California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have access to fair market value legislation for private sector investment in public sector water and wastewater systems. The Company supports full optionality for municipalities, including state legislation that enables the consolidation of the largely fragmented water and wastewater industries through third-party fair market valuations of purchased property. Fair market value assessment of water and wastewater systems is an alternative to the traditional depreciated original cost method of valuation, providing municipalities with a purchase price that is reflective of the assets’ market value, while the utility has increased assurance of recovering the purchase price over the life of the assets, subject to state regulatory commission approval.

Consolidated tariffs use a unified rate structure for systems owned and operated by a single utility, which may or may not be physically interconnected. Consolidated tariff pricing moderates the impact of periodic fluctuations in local costs and promotes a more universal water infrastructure investment in the state. As a result, consolidated tariffs can make it easier to incorporate new systems into an existing utility and can ensure economies of scale for even the smallest of systems and prioritize capital needs across the state. Overall, this brings cost-effective, higher quality services to a larger number of citizens. Twelve of the Company’s regulated jurisdictions currently have some form of consolidated tariff pricing, including California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

In 2018, legislation was enacted in the Company’s Missouri and California subsidiaries changing the public vote requirement for the sale of water or wastewater systems. In Missouri, the public vote requirement for the sale of a municipal water or wastewater system changed to a simple majority for more than 500 small towns. Historically, only larger communities required a simple majority, while smaller communities needed a two-thirds majority. This legislation increases the options for small towns, should they decide to address their water and sewer challenges through an asset sale. In California, the vote required to allow cities to sell sewer systems changed to a simple majority from a two-thirds majority.

Competition

The Company’s Regulated Businesses generally do not face direct competition in their existing markets because (i) the Company operates in those markets pursuant to franchises, charters, certificates of public convenience and necessity or similar authorizations (collectively, “CPCNs”) issued by state PUCs or other authorities, and (ii) the high cost of constructing a new water and wastewater system in an existing market creates a significant barrier to market entry. However, the Company’s Regulated Businesses do face competition from governmental agencies, other investor-owned utilities, large industrial customers with the ability to provide their own water supply/treatment process and strategic buyers that are entering new markets and/or making strategic acquisitions. When pursuing acquisitions, the Company’s largest investor-owned competitors, based on a comparison of operating revenues and population served, are Essential Utilities, Inc. (formerly known as Aqua America, Inc.), Suez North America, American States Water Company and California Water Service Group. From time to time, the Company also faces competition from infrastructure funds, multi-utility companies and others, such as Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp., Eversource Energy and Corix.

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Condemnation and Eminent Domain

All or portions of the Regulated Businesses’ utility assets could be acquired by state, municipal or other government entities through one or more of the following methods: (i) eminent domain (also known as condemnation); (ii) the right of purchase given or reserved by a municipality or political subdivision when the original CPCN was granted; and (iii) the right of purchase given or reserved under the law of the state in which the utility subsidiary was incorporated or from which it received its CPCN. The acquisition consideration related to such a proceeding initiated by a local government may be determined consistent with applicable eminent domain law, or may be negotiated or fixed by appraisers as prescribed by the law of the state or in the particular CPCN.

As such, the Regulated Businesses are periodically subject to condemnation proceedings in the ordinary course of business. For example, a citizens group in Monterey, California successfully added “Measure J” to the November 2018 election ballot asking voters to decide whether the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (the “MPWMD”) should conduct a feasibility study concerning the potential purchase of the Monterey water service system assets (the “Monterey system assets”) of the Company’s California subsidiary, and, if feasible, to proceed with a purchase of those assets without an additional public vote. This service territory represents approximately 40,000 customers. In November 2018, Measure J was certified to have passed. 

On August 19, 2019, the MPWMD’s General Manager issued a report that recommends that the MPWMD board (1) develop criteria to determine which water systems should be considered for acquisition, (2) examine the feasibility of acquiring the Monterey system assets and consider public ownership of smaller systems only if the MPWMD becomes the owner of a larger system, (3) evaluate whether it is in the public interest to acquire the Monterey system assets and sufficiently satisfy the criterion of “feasible” as provided in Measure J, (4) ensure there is significant potential for cost savings before agreeing to commence an acquisition, and (5) develop more fully alternate operating plans before deciding whether to consider a Resolution of Necessity.

On November 6, 2019, the MPWMD issued a preliminary valuation and cost of service analysis report, finding in part that (1) an estimate of the Monterey system assets’ total value plus adjustments would be approximately $513 million, (2) the cost of service modeling results indicate significant annual reductions in revenue requirements and projected monthly water bills, and (3) the acquisition of the Monterey system assets by the MPWMD would be economically feasible. The MPWMD will hold public hearings regarding the findings contained in this preliminary report. If the MPWMD were to make a final determination that an acquisition of the Monterey system assets is feasible, then the MPWMD would commence a multi-year eminent domain proceeding against the Company’s California subsidiary to first establish the MPWMD’s right to take the Monterey system assets and, if such right is established, to determine the amount of just compensation to be paid to the California subsidiary for such assets.

Also, five municipalities in the Chicago, Illinois area (approximately 30,300 customers in total) formed a water agency and filed an eminent domain lawsuit against the Company’s Illinois subsidiary in January 2013, seeking to condemn the water pipeline that serves those five municipalities. Before filing its eminent domain lawsuit, the water agency made an offer of $38 million for the pipeline. A jury trial will take place to establish the value of the pipeline. The parties have filed with the court updated valuation reports. Although the date of the valuation trial has not currently been scheduled, it is not likely to commence before the second quarter of 2020.

Furthermore, the law in certain jurisdictions in which the Regulated Businesses operate provides for eminent domain rights allowing private property owners to file a lawsuit to seek just compensation against a public utility, if a public utility’s infrastructure has been determined to be a substantial cause of damage to that property. In these actions, the plaintiff would not have to prove that the public utility acted negligently. In California, lawsuits have been filed in connection with large-scale natural events such as wildfires. Some have included allegations that infrastructure of certain utilities triggered the natural event that resulted in damage to the property. In some cases, the PUC has allowed certain costs or losses incurred by the utility to be recovered from customers in rates, but in other cases such recovery in rates has been disallowed. Also, the utility may have obtained insurance that could respond to some or all of such losses, although the utility would be at risk for any losses not ultimately subject to rate or insurance recovery or losses that exceed the limits of such insurance.

Water Supply and Wastewater Services

The Company’s Regulated Businesses generally own the physical assets used to store, pump, treat and deliver water to its customers and collect, treat, transport and recycle wastewater. Typically, the Company does not own the water, which is held in public trust and is allocated to the Company through contracts, permits and allocation rights granted by federal and state or multi-state agencies or through the ownership of water rights pursuant to local law. The Company is dependent on defined sources of water supply and obtains its water supply from surface water sources such as reservoirs, lakes, rivers and streams; from groundwater sources, such as wells and aquifers; and water purchased from third-party water suppliers. The level of water treatment the Company applies varies significantly depending upon the quality of the water source and customer stipulations. Surface water sources typically generally require significant treatment, while groundwater sources often require chemical treatment only.

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Presented in the chart below are the Company’s sources of water supply as of December 31, 2019:

Presented in the table below are the percentages of water supply by source type for the Company’s top seven states for 2019:

	Surface Water	Ground Water	Purchased Water
New Jersey	72%	24%	4%
Pennsylvania	91%	7%	2%
Missouri	77%	22%	1%
Illinois	55%	35%	10%
California	—	64%	36%
Indiana	44%	56%	—
West Virginia	100%	—	—

The Company’s ability to meet the existing and future water demands of its customers depends on an adequate water supply. Drought, governmental restrictions, overuse of sources of water, the protection of threatened species or habitats, contamination or other factors may limit the availability of ground and surface water. The Company employs a variety of measures in an effort to obtain adequate sources of water supply, both in the short-term and over the long-term. The geographic diversity of the Company’s service areas may mitigate some of the economic effects on the water supply associated with weather extremes it might encounter in any particular service territory. For example, in any given summer, some areas may experience drier than average weather, which may reduce the amount of source water available, while other areas the Company serves may experience wetter than average weather.

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The Company evaluates quality, quantity, growth needs and alternate sources of water supply as well as transmission and distribution capacity. Water supply is seasonal in nature and weather conditions can have a pronounced effect on supply. In order to ensure that the Company has adequate water supply, it uses long-term planning processes and maintains contingency plans to minimize the potential impact on service caused by climate variability and a wide range of weather fluctuations. In connection with supply planning for most surface or groundwater sources, the Company employs models to determine safe yields under different rainfall and drought conditions. Surface and ground water levels are routinely monitored so that supply capacity deficits may, to the extent possible, be predicted and mitigated through demand management and additional supply development. An example of the Company’s use of long-term planning to ensure that it has adequate water supply is its involvement in the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (the “Water Supply Project”) in California. The Water Supply Project includes the construction of a desalination plant, owned by the Company’s California subsidiary, and the construction of wells that would supply water to the desalination plant. In addition, the Water Supply Project also includes the California subsidiary’s purchase of water from a groundwater replenishment project (the “GWR Project”) between Monterey One Water (formerly known as the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency) and the MPWMD. The Water Supply Project is intended, among other things, to fulfill obligations of the California subsidiary to eliminate unauthorized diversions from the Carmel River as required under orders of the California State Water Resources Control Board (the “SWRCB”). For more information, see Item 3—Legal Proceedings—Alternative Water Supply in Lieu of Carmel River Diversions.

Wastewater services involve the collection of wastewater from customers’ premises through sewer lines. The wastewater is then transported through a sewer network to a treatment facility, where it is treated to meet required regulatory standards for wastewater before being returned to the environment. The solid waste by-product of the treatment process is disposed of or recycled in accordance with applicable standards and regulations.

Seasonality

Customer demand for the Company’s water service is affected by weather and tends to vary with temperature and amount and frequency of rainfall. Customer demand is generally greater during the warmer months, primarily due to increased water usage for irrigation systems and other outdoor water use. As such, the Company typically expects its operating revenues to be the highest in the third quarter of each year. Weather that is hotter and/or drier than average generally increases operating revenues, whereas, weather that is cooler and/or wetter than average generally serves to suppress customer water demand and can reduce water operating revenues. Three of the Company’s jurisdictions, California, Illinois and New York, have adopted revenue stability mechanisms which permit the Company to collect state PUC-authorized revenue for a given period which is not tied to the volume of water sold during that period, thereby lessening the impact of weather variability. See “Regulation and Rate Making” for additional information regarding revenue stability mechanisms.

Market-Based Businesses

The Company’s Market-Based Businesses provide complementary home services primarily to residential and smaller commercial customers and water and wastewater services to the U.S. government on military installations, as well as municipalities, utilities and industrial customers. These businesses are not subject to regulation by state PUCs and the services provided generally do not require significant capital investment. Operating revenues for the Company’s Market-Based Businesses were $539 million for 2019, $476 million for 2018 and $422 million for 2017, accounting for 15%, 14% and 13%, respectively, of the Company’s total operating revenues for the same periods.

The Company’s primary Market-Based Businesses include the following operating segments:

• Homeowner Services Group (“HOS”), which provides various warranty protection programs and other home services to residential customers;

• Military Services Group (“MSG”), which enters into long-term contracts with the U.S. government to provide water and wastewater services on various military installations.

The Company also has five contracts with municipal customers to operate and manage water and wastewater facilities and provide other related services through its Contract Services Group (“CSG”).

Previously, the Company provided customized water transfer services for shale natural gas exploration and production companies through its Keystone Clearwater Solutions, LLC (“Keystone”) operations. On December 12, 2019, as part of a strategic review undertaken by the Company, the Company sold all of its interest in Keystone to a natural gas and oil industry investment group. See Note 4—Acquisitions and Divestitures in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

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Homeowner Services Group

The Company’s Homeowner Services Group, which includes the operations of Pivotal Home Solutions (“Pivotal”) acquired in June 2018, provides warranty protection programs and other home services to residential customers for interior and exterior water and sewer lines, interior gas and electric lines, heating and cooling systems, water heaters and other home appliances, as well as power surge protection and other related services. The Company develops partnerships with municipalities, utilities and other organizations to offer protection programs to customers serviced by, or affiliated with, those municipalities, utilities and organizations. The term of these partnership agreements with the municipalities, utilities and other organizations is typically three to five years, with mutual optional renewals. As of December 31, 2019, HOS had approximately 3 million customer contracts in 43 states.

Military Services Group

The Company’s Military Services Group operates on 16 military installations under 50-year contracts with the U.S. government as part of its Utility Privatization Program. The scope of these contracts generally includes the operation and maintenance of the installation’s water and wastewater systems and a capital program focused on asset replacement and, in certain instances, systems expansion. The replacement of assets assumed when a contract is awarded to the Company is completed either through a discrete set of projects executed in the first five years of the contract or through the long term recapitalization program performed over the life of the contract. Traditionally, both of these programs are funded from the contract fee. At times, new assets are required to support the installation’s mission and the construction of these assets are funded by the U.S. government as separate modifications or amendments to the contract. The capital program historically has not used the Company’s equity or debt borrowings; rather, the Company has used limited working capital for short-term needs under these contracts. In April 2018, the U.S. Army instituted a requirement that a bidder must offer financing in its proposal for these new capital projects. However, the U.S. Army’s implementation of this requirement has limited the need for financing of these projects and the Company has been awarded several projects without any requirement to provide financing.

The contract price for nine of the Company’s contracts with the U.S. government is subject to redetermination two years after commencement of operations, and every three years thereafter. Price redetermination is a contract mechanism to periodically adjust the service fee in the next period, to reflect changes in contract obligations and anticipated market conditions. The remaining seven contracts with the U.S. government are subject to annual price adjustments under a mechanism similar to price redetermination called “Economic Price Adjustment.” All of these contracts could be terminated, in whole or in part, prior to the end of the 50-year term for convenience of the U.S. government, or as a result of default or non-performance by the subsidiary performing the contract. In either event, pursuant to termination provisions applicable to all of these contracts, the Company would be entitled to recover allowable costs that it may have incurred under the contract, plus the contract profit margin on incurred costs. The Company’s backlog of revenue associated with its contracts with the U.S. government is approximately $5.4 billion, with an average remaining contract term of 42 years.

Competition

The Company’s Market-Based Businesses face competition from a number of service providers, including HomeServe USA and Cinch Home Services in HOS, and American States Water Company, Suez North America, and Veolia Environnement S.A. in MSG.

Environmental, Health and Safety, Water Quality and Other Regulation

The Company’s water and wastewater operations, including the services provided by both its Regulated Businesses and Market-Based Businesses, are subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment, health and safety, the provision of water and wastewater services, particularly with respect to the quality of water the Company delivers to its customers, and the manner in which it collects, treats, discharges, recycles and disposes of wastewater. In the United States, these regulations are developed under legislation including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act. Environmental, health and safety, and water quality regulations are complex and may vary from state to state in those instances where a state has adopted a standard that is more stringent than the Federal standard. For example, while the EPA has issued a non-enforceable Health Advisory for the combined level of two perfluorinated compounds (perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS), the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is developing drinking water standards for these two compounds and has adopted a standard for a third compound, perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA, as well as other perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The Company is also subject to various federal, state, local laws and regulations governing the storage of hazardous materials, the management and disposal of hazardous and solid wastes, discharges to air and water, the cleanup of contaminated sites, dam safety and other matters relating to the protection of the environment and health and safety. PUCs also set conditions and standards for the water and wastewater services the Company delivers.

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The Company maintains an environmental program that includes responsible business practices, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, and effective use of natural resources, which is important given the overall trend that drinking water standards have become increasingly more stringent over time. As newer or stricter standards are introduced, the Company’s capital and operating costs could increase. The Company incurs substantial costs associated with compliance with the environmental, health and safety, and water quality standards to which its operations are subject and the Company invests in technology solutions for enhanced detection and monitoring. The Company estimates that it will make capital expenditures of approximately $600 million over the next five years for environmental control facilities, which the Company defines for this purpose as any project (or portion thereof) that involves the preservation of air, water or land. The Company believes that its operations are materially in compliance with, and in many cases surpass, minimum standards required by applicable environmental laws and regulations.

The Company’s operations also involve the use, storage and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes. For example, the Company’s water and wastewater treatment facilities store and use chlorine and other chemicals that generate wastes that require proper handling and disposal under applicable environmental requirements. The Company also could incur remedial costs in connection with any contamination relating to its operations or facilities or its off-site disposal of wastes. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”), authorizes the EPA, and comparable state laws authorize state environmental authorities, to issue orders and bring enforcement actions to compel responsible parties to investigate and take remedial actions at any site that is determined to present an actual or potential threat to human health or the environment because of an actual or threatened release of one or more hazardous substances. Parties that generated or transported hazardous substances to such sites, as well as current and former owners and operators of such sites, may be deemed liable, without regard to fault, under CERCLA or comparable state laws. Although the Company is not aware of any material cleanup or decontamination obligations, the discovery of contamination or the imposition of such obligations in the future could result in additional costs. The Company’s facilities and operations are also subject to requirements under the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act and inspections thereunder. Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries are involved in pending legal proceedings relating to environmental matters. See Item 3—Legal Proceedings for additional information.

Safe Drinking Water Act

The Safe Drinking Water Act and related regulations establish national quality standards for drinking water. The EPA has issued rules governing the levels of numerous, naturally occurring and man-made chemical and microbial contaminants and radionuclides allowable in drinking water, and continues to propose new rules. These rules also prescribe testing requirements for detecting regulated contaminants, the treatment systems that may be used for removing those contaminants, and other requirements. To date, the EPA has set standards for approximately 90 contaminants and indicators for drinking water, and there is a process in place to make a regulatory determination on at least five additional compounds every five years.

To help formulate the basis for future regulations, the EPA has the authority to require monitoring for additional, unregulated contaminants under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (the “Monitoring Rule”). The Company’s facilities have participated in the data gathering effort for the Monitoring Rule in previous rounds, which occurs every five years, and are also a participant in the ongoing fourth round, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020. There are millions of other chemical compounds that are not regulated, many of which are lacking a testing methodology, occurrence data, health effects information and/or treatment technology. The process of developing new drinking water standards is long and complex, but the Company actively participates with the EPA and other water industry groups by sharing research and water quality operational knowledge. See “Research and Development—Emerging Containments” for additional information.

To effect the removal or inactivation of microbial organisms, the EPA has established various rules to improve the disinfection and filtration of drinking water and to reduce consumers’ exposure to disinfectants and by-products of the disinfection process. In 2006, the EPA issued the Long-Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule and the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproduct Rule and finalized the Ground Water Rule, which is applicable to systems providing water from underground sources. In 2016, the revised Total Coliform Rule implemented a “find and fix” process where exceeding bacterial trigger levels requires an assessment to correct any sanitary defects. The Company is within the EPA’s time frame for compliance with these standards, which includes sample collection, data analysis, engineering planning and system implementation. Recent monitoring under the Long-Term 2 Rule has resulted in the need for more than 30 of the Company’s surface water systems to provide additional protection against cryptosporidium. In many cases, this will involve installing UV disinfection, and although several plants have already completed assessments and upgrades, an estimated $150 million to $250 million of investment will still be required for the remaining facilities. Further, the EPA is actively considering regulations for a number of contaminants, including strontium, hexavalent chromium, fluoride, nitrosamines, perchlorate, some pharmaceuticals and certain volatile organic compounds. The Company does not anticipate that any such regulations, if enacted, will require implementation in 2020.

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The Company conducts over one million water quality tests each year at its laboratory facilities and plant operations, including continuous online instrumentations such as monitoring turbidity levels, disinfectant residuals and adjustments to chemical treatment based on changes in incoming water. The Company participates in the Partnership for Safe Water, the EPA’s voluntary program to meet more stringent goals for reducing microbial contaminants. With 69 of the Company’s 80 surface water treatment plants receiving the EPA program’s prestigious “Director” award, which recognizes utilities that (i) have completed a comprehensive self-assessment report, (ii) created an action plan for continuous improvement, and (iii) produced high-quality drinking water, the Company accounts for approximately one-third of the plants receiving such awards nationwide. In addition, 67 of the Company’s surface water treatment plants have received the “Five-Year Phase III” award, 62 plants have received the “Ten-Year Phase III” award, 58 plants have received the “Fifteen-Year Phase III” award, and three plants have received the “Twenty-Year Phase III” award; these awards recognize plants that have met the Director award status for five, 10, 15 and 20 years, respectively. Further, nine of the Company’s surface water plants have received the “Presidents” award, which recognizes treatment plants that achieve the Partnership’s rigorous individual filter effluent turbidity standards.

Although it is difficult to project the ultimate costs of complying with the above or other pending or future requirements, the Company expects current requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act and other similar laws to be recoverable through the regulatory process and therefore compliance costs are not expected to have a material impact on its operations or financial condition. In addition, capital expenditures and operating costs to comply with environmental mandates have been traditionally recognized by PUCs as appropriate for inclusion in establishing rates. As a result, the Company expects to recover the operating and capital costs resulting from these pending or future requirements.

Lead and Copper Rule and Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act

In 1991, the EPA published the Lead and Copper Rule (“LCR”) to control lead and copper in drinking water and, since that time, has issued minor revisions in 2000, 2004 and 2007, enhancing monitoring, reporting and public education requirements. In 2011, Congress enacted the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act regarding the use and introduction into commerce of lead pipes, plumbing fittings for fixtures, solder and flux. While these advances have made an impact in reducing lead exposure in drinking water, legacy lead plumbing materials, primarily in building plumbing, still remain in many communities. The failure of certain water systems in the United States to comply with the requirements of the LCR has received recent media attention and scrutiny, and in certain cases, has led to a number of investigations and the imposition of significant penalties and sanctions against the operators of those systems and others. As part of its ongoing water main replacement and service line renewal projects, the Company has started to replace LSLs in accordance with current scientific guidance. Also, the Company utilizes appropriate corrosion control techniques as necessary to comply with current water quality regulatory requirements. The EPA proposed revisions to the LCR in November 2019 designed to provide more effective protection of public health by reducing exposure to lead and copper in drinking water. The Company continues to review the implications of the LCR and comments on the proposed revisions to the rule were due to the EPA by February 12, 2020. The Company will develop an implementation strategy to comply with the new requirements, if and when adopted, prior to the compliance effective dates in the final rule. Capital expenditures and operating costs associated with compliance with any of these rule revisions cannot be determined until the final rule is promulgated, but costs associated with compliance with federal regulations have been traditionally recognized by PUCs as appropriate for inclusion in establishing rates.

The Company currently estimates that approximately 5% of the service lines within its regulated service territories contain lead on either the Company or customer portion of the service line (“LSLs”). The Company is replacing LSLs as part of ongoing water main replacement and service line renewal projects. The Company’s goal is to work with the communities it currently serves to replace a significant majority of presently known LSLs in most service areas by the end of 2030, at an estimated cost ranging from $600 million to $1.2 billion. The Company believes this will be attainable for most service areas where public policy is supportive of this goal. With regard to future acquisitions, the Company will work with those communities as part of the acquisition process to set LSL removal goals appropriate for those systems. The prioritization of LSL removal plan is dependent on several factors, including the Company’s planned water main and service line renewal projects, adjacent projects by municipalities or other utilities, LCR compliance monitoring results, and cooperation with its customers with respect to replacing the customer-owned portion of the LSL as necessary. In certain cases these factors may result in a shorter or longer time frame for replacement. Because replacing the external LSL in its entirety is advised by several water industry organizations including the U.S. National Drinking Water Advisory Council, the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative, and the American Water Works Association, the Company’s preferred approach is to replace the entire external LSL if lead is found on either the Company or customer portion of the service line. The Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative is a diverse group of public health, water utility, environmental, labor, consumer and housing organizations from across the country working together to encourage communities to accelerate the full replacement of LSLs through collaborative efforts at the local level.

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Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act regulates discharges from drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities into lakes, rivers, streams and groundwater. In addition to requirements applicable to the Company’s wastewater collection systems, its operations require discharge permits under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit program established under the Clean Water Act, which must be renewed every five years. Pursuant to the NPDES permit program, the EPA and implementing states set maximum discharge limits for wastewater effluents and overflows from wastewater collection systems. Discharges that exceed the limits specified under NPDES permits can lead to the imposition of fines and penalties, and persistent non-compliance could lead to significant fines and penalties and other compliance costs. In addition, the difficulty of obtaining and complying with NPDES permits, and renewing expiring permits, may impose time and cost burdens on the Company’s operations. From time to time, discharge violations occur at the Company’s facilities, some of which result in fines. The Company does not expect any such violations or fines to have a material impact on its results of operations or financial condition.

Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance

The Company considers environmental, social responsibility and governance (“ESG”) to include: environmental leadership and sustainability; operational excellence; employee engagement, safety and equality; active community engagement, civic and charitable involvement; and transparency and good governance. Integration of these principles into the Company’s daily operations emphasizes its belief that “how” a company operates is just as important as “what” a company does.

This focus is derived from the Company’s vision statement, “clean water for life,” and its core values: (i) safety; (ii) trust; (iii) environmental leadership; (iv) teamwork; and (v) high performance, which are the principles by which it operates. The Company’s vision and values drive its company strategy, which is centered on five central themes:

• Safety—The safety of the Company’s employees and its customers is the number one focus for American Water.

• Customers—The Company’s customers are at the center of everything it does, helping the Company to shape its strategic priorities. The Company challenges itself so that if its regulated utility customers were to have a choice of providers, the Company would want them to choose American Water.

• People—Maintaining an environment which is open, transparent, diverse and inclusive, and where the Company’s people feel valued, included and accountable, is critical to the Company’s ability to serve its customers every day.

• Operational Excellence—The Company’s operational excellence strategy helps it to find better and more efficient ways to do business, and to provide safe, clean and affordable water services for its customers.

• Growth—The Company believes that when companies grow, they can invest more in creating stable jobs, training, benefits, infrastructure and their communities. The Company’s growth benefits all of its stakeholders, including its shareholders.

In 2019, the Company issued its fifth biennial Sustainability Report, covering its sustainability performance for calendar years 2018 and 2017. This report can be accessed on the Company’s website, https://amwater.com, and was prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards: Core Option, as well as standards from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and Edison Electric Institute. The Company’s first report was issued in 2011, making American Water the first large water services company to measure its performance against the Global Reporting Index. In addition, the Company’s sustainability practices have supported its inclusion in the Euronext Vigeo^® U.S. 50 index, FTSE4Good index series, 2018 NAACP Equity Inclusion and Empowerment Index, 2019 Constituent MSCI ESG Leaders Indexes, 2020 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, and ranked 16th on the Corporate Knights’ 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.

The following highlights the Company’s commitment to its ESG policies and practices:

Environmental and Sustainability Practices

• Energy Use

• The Company lowered its greenhouse gas emissions through December 31, 2018 by approximately 31% since its base year of 2007 with a goal of achieving a 40% reduction by 2025.

• The Company’s headquarters building in Camden, New Jersey attained LEED Platinum certification, and earned all possible points within the sustainable site credit category.

• Design, construct, operate and maintain the Company’s systems for efficiency and best practices.

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• Water Supply

• Constructed a new 90 million gallon reservoir and intake in Bel Air, Maryland in response to water supply demands during times of drought and in order to meet levels required by Maryland regulators. The new reservoir provides a long-term, safe and reliable water supply and economic opportunity in that region.

• Water Policy Leadership

• Expect to spend between $8.8 billion and $9.4 billion from 2020 to 2024 and between $20 billion and $22 billion from 2020 to 2029 on capital investments to address aging infrastructure, reduce or eliminate leaks, improve cyber and physical security, and increase resiliency of critical assets against the impacts of climate variability. Approximately 8% of the Company’s total projected capital investment is dedicated to resiliency.

• More than $1.5 billion per year is allocated to renewing and improving regulated assets through a long-term perspective.

• Scientists dedicated to research and partnering with water research foundations, on water quality and technology-water source monitoring.

• Collaboration and partnerships with federal and state agencies to support effective environmental, health and safety and water quality standards and regulations.

Social Responsibility

• People

• During 2019, nearly 96,000 hours of safety training were completed by the Company’s employees.

• As a result of the Company’s continued focus on safety, the Company has made significant progress towards its zero injuries goal, reducing workplace injuries by 61% over the past five years, and the Company’s 2019 safety performance was the best in its recorded history. Through year end 2019, the Company has further reduced its recordable injury rate to 1.13, approximately 62% better than the industry average.

• During 2019, approximately 86% of the Company’s job requisitions had a diverse candidate pool, with approximately 57% of transfers or promotions filled by minority, female, veteran or disabled individuals.

• Customers

• Achieved a customer satisfaction rating in the top quartile among the Company’s industry peer group.

• Communities

• More than 5,000 hours of Company-sponsored community service performed during 2019 by its employees.

• Company-sponsored workplace giving campaigns with the United Way and Water For People.

• Through annual contributions from the American Water Charitable Foundation, the Company focused on supporting its employees in their own charitable endeavors, providing support for disaster relief efforts, and providing funding for initiatives related to clean water, conservation, education and community sustainability.

Governance

• Board and Committees

• The Board of Directors and each of its committees are led by an independent, non-executive chairperson.

• The Board of Directors met 12 times in 2019.

• In July 2019, the Board of Directors added three additional directors, increasing its size from eight to 11 members. The three new directors represent gender, racial and experiential diversity, and all three have extensive regulated utility backgrounds.

• Diversity

• With the addition of three new directors in 2019, the percentage of women on the Board of Directors increased to 54.5% as of December 31, 2019.

• The Company’s average director tenure was approximately 5.8 years as of December 31, 2019.

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• Demonstrated and Representative Expertise

• The Company’s Board of Directors has demonstrated expertise, including experience in utility and finance operations, customer service, cybersecurity, the military, financial services and capital markets, service as a public company CEO and board member, and management of global operations.

Research and Development

The Company’s Research and Development Program

The Company maintains an industry-leading Research and Development (“R&D”) program that is designed to enhance its services, help ensure compliance, improve quality and operational effectiveness, and provide environmental leadership. For more than three decades from its inception, American Water’s R&D program has evolved into an industry leading effort and has achieved numerous advancements in the science of drinking water, wastewater, and desalination. Through laboratory and industry resources and the team’s expertise, efforts are focused on contaminants of emerging concern, including but not limited to PFAS, Legionella, cyanotoxin-forming algal blooms, pathogens and disinfection byproducts. The Company’s R&D personnel are located at the Company’s corporate headquarters and at two laboratory testing facilities in New Jersey and Illinois, the latter housing its quality control and testing laboratory, which supports the Company’s R&D activities through testing and analysis.

The Company continues to leverage its expertise and collaborate with the EPA and state agencies to help establish effective environmental, health and safety, and water quality standards and regulation. This relationship includes the sharing of the Company’s research, such as its treatment and distribution system optimization research and its national water quality monitoring data. The Company’s engagement with the EPA provides it with early insight into emerging regulatory issues and initiatives, thereby allowing the Company to anticipate and to accommodate its future compliance requirements. The Company also frequently engages with the Centers for Disease Control, other state environmental agencies, and national and international water research foundations. The Company believes that continued R&D activities are critical for providing safe, reliable and affordable services, as well as maintaining its leadership position in the industry, which provides the Company with a competitive advantage as it seeks additional business with new and existing customers.

Emerging Contaminants

Emerging contaminants include numerous chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, herbicides and endocrine disrupting compounds, as well as some naturally occurring microbes, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, which have been detected in drinking water supplies, for which the risk to the public’s health is not fully understood and/or has not been quantified. While these contaminants have been present in drinking water for as long as they have been in use, technological advances have only recently made it possible to detect many of them. The ability to detect contaminants, even at trace levels, has raised questions among regulators and government agencies, further affecting the public’s perception of drinking water quality.

The Chemicals Abstract Service Registry contains over 159 million registered chemicals, with an estimated 1,400 species of disease-causing microbes that can affect humans. The Company is continually investigating new substances and contaminants, employing a team of scientists, engineers and public health professionals to identify threats to its water supply, to act on emerging regulations and new health advisories, and to evaluate the benefits of alternative or advanced treatment technologies. The Company maintains state-of-the-art water quality testing equipment and implements new and emerging technologies to help predict and manage potential water supply contamination issues. Examples of the Company’s efforts include:

• using its research findings to communicate information to its customers on the actions they can take to manage Legionella (the Centers for Disease Control statistics indicate that water-associated disease from Legionella is on the rise, with exposure typically associated with customer-owned plumbing systems in large buildings);

• aerial drone testing to detect harmful algal blooms and testing ultrasonic technology to help prevent taste and odor events and to eliminate cyanotoxins before they get to the water treatment plant;

• the implementation of water source assessment tools, including sensors and analytics, to evaluate and track chemical storage and aid in the detection of source water contamination events;

• development of methodology and measurement techniques for emerging contaminants to investigate transport, occurrence and treatment; and

• the implementation of activated carbon, biofiltration and ion exchange for the control of emerging contaminants.

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Service Company and Security

American Water Works Service Company, Inc. (the “Service Company”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company that provides support and operational services to the Company’s operating subsidiaries. These services are predominantly provided to the Company’s Regulated Businesses under contracts that have been approved by PUCs, where necessary, and are also provided to its Market-Based Businesses organized under American Water Enterprises, LLC, the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary (“AWE”) as requested or may otherwise be necessary. Services provided by the Service Company may include accounting and finance, administration, business development, communications, compliance, education and training, engineering, health and safety, human resources, information systems, internal audit, investor relations, legal and governance, operations, procurement, R&D, rates and regulatory support, security, risk management and insurance, treasury, and water quality. The Service Company also operates two national customer service centers located in Alton, Illinois and Pensacola, Florida, which provide customer relations, field service and operational support to the Company’s Regulated Businesses. Services are provided by the Service Company at cost, enabling the Company’s operating subsidiaries to fulfill their responsibilities in a cost-effective manner, while providing them access to in-depth, functional expertise.

The Company’s security team provides oversight and policy guidance on physical, cyber and information security, as well as business continuity, throughout its operations. It is responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring and supporting effective physical and technical security controls for the Company’s physical assets, business systems and operational technologies. Risk assessments are conducted periodically to evaluate the effectiveness of existing security controls and serve as the basis for additional safeguards, security controls and measures. Operational and technical security controls are deployed and integrated as safeguards against unauthorized access to the Company’s information systems. These controls (i) are aimed at assuring the continuity of business processes that are dependent upon automation, (ii) seek to maintain the integrity of the Company’s data, (iii) support regulatory and legislative compliance requirements, and (iv) are aimed at maintaining safe and reliable service to the Company’s customers. The Company engages in partnerships with U.S. federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to coordinate and improve the security of its water delivery systems and to safeguard its water supply and operations.

Employee Matters

As of December 31, 2019, approximately 46% of the Company’s workforce was represented by unions, which include 71 collective bargaining agreements with 14 different unions. Additionally, as of December 31, 2019 the Company had four collective bargaining agreement beyond expiration, affecting approximately 371 employees, all of which are actively working under the terms of the existing agreement, and another collective bargaining agreement in its initial stage of renegotiation, affecting approximately 66 employees. During 2020, 14 of the Company’s collective bargaining agreements will be expiring in accordance with their terms and the Company expects to be able to negotiate these agreements during the course of the year.

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Information About Our Executive Officers

Presented in the table below is the name, age, offices held and business experience for each of the Company’s executive officers, as of February 18, 2020:

Name	Age	Office and Experience
Susan N. Story	60	President and Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Story has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and a director since May 2014, and has announced her retirement from these positions, effective April 1, 2020. Ms. Story served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company from April 2013 until May 2014. Prior to joining American Water, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of Southern Company, from January 2011 until March 2013 and President and Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Power Company, also a subsidiary of Southern Company, from 2003 until December 2010. Since 2008, Ms. Story has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Raymond James Financial, Inc., a diversified financial services company, and as lead director since 2016. Since January 2017, Ms. Story has also served on the Board of Directors of Dominion Energy, Inc., a producer and transporter of energy.
Brian Chin	46	Senior Vice President, Strategic Financial Planning. Mr. Chin joined the Company as its Senior Vice President, Planning and Strategy Integration in June 2017. He has had his current title since February 15, 2019, and he also served as Interim Treasurer from October 26, 2018 until February 15, 2019. Prior to joining the Company, from May 2013 to April 2017, Mr. Chin served as the lead utility analyst for the North America research function at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. From 2001 to 2013, Mr. Chin worked in Electric Utilities Research at Citigroup. Within that period, Mr. Chin was the global head of Electric Utilities Research for Citigroup.
M. Susan Hardwick	57	Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Hardwick joined American Water on June 3, 2019 as its Executive Vice President—Finance and became its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on July 1, 2019. Ms. Hardwick previously served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Vectren Corporation, which was sold to CenterPoint Energy, Inc. on February 1, 2019. Ms. Hardwick joined Vectren Corporation in January 2000 and served in a variety of positions, including Vice President, Controller and Assistant Treasurer; Senior Vice President, Finance; Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer; and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Vectren, Ms. Hardwick was Assistant Corporate Comptroller at Cinergy Corp. She began her career with Arthur Andersen & Co., leaving there as a senior manager to join Cinergy Corp. Ms. Hardwick is a Certified Public Accountant.
Melanie M. Kennedy	46	Senior Vice President, Human Resources. Since March 2017, Ms. Kennedy has served as the Company’s Senior Vice President, Human Resources. From August 2014 until March 2017, Ms. Kennedy served as Vice President, Human Resources of the Company, and from August 2012 to August 2014, she served as Director, Human Resources in the Company’s Northeast Division. Ms. Kennedy initially joined the Company in 2007, and before that time, she practiced law for nine years.
Walter J. Lynch	57	Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Lynch has over 20 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry. He has served as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since January 2016, as Chief Operating Officer of Regulated Operations from February 2010 to December 2015, and President of Regulated Operations from July 2008 to December 2015. Mr. Lynch joined the Company in 2001. Mr. Lynch is on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Water Companies and serves on its Executive Committee. In addition, Mr. Lynch also serves on the Water Research Foundation Board of Trustees. Effective April 1, 2020, Mr. Lynch will succeed Ms. Story as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and a member of the Board of Directors.
James S. Merante	45	Vice President and Treasurer. Mr. Merante was appointed as the Company’s Vice President and Treasurer on February 15, 2019. Prior to that, Mr. Merante was Vice President, Internal Audit from February 2018 to February 15, 2019, and served as Divisional Chief Financial Officer for the Company’s Mid-Atlantic Division from July 2014 until February 2018. Prior to joining American Water, Mr. Merante served as Vice President of Operations for FSM, Inc., a private digital media company, from February 2010 until July 2014. Mr. Merante is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania.
Michael A. Sgro	61	Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Mr. Sgro has 25 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry. He has served as the Company’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since January 2016 and its Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from February 2015 until January 2016. Prior to that, he served as the Company’s Interim General Counsel and Secretary from January 2015 until February 2015 and as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of American Water’s Northeast Division from 2002 to 2015.
Loyd “Aldie” Warnock	60	Senior Vice President, Chief External Affairs and Corporate Business Development Officer. Mr. Warnock has served as the Company’s Senior Vice President, Chief External Affairs and Corporate Business Development Officer since January 1, 2020 and as the Company's Senior Vice President of External Affairs and Business Development from August 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019. From April 2014 until August 2017, Mr. Warnock served as the Company’s Senior Vice President of External Affairs, Communications and Public Policy. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Midwest Independent System Operator, Inc., a non-profit, self-governing organization, from March 2011 to April 2014. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of External Affairs for Allegheny Energy, Inc. from December 2005 to February 2011 and Senior Vice President of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs at Mirant Corporation from July 2004 to November 2005. Mr. Warnock serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Water Companies and on the Executive Advisory Board of the Mississippi State University College of Business.
Melissa K. Wikle	54	Vice President and Controller. Ms. Wikle joined the Company in July 2016 as its Vice President and Controller, and assumed the duties of the Company’s principal accounting officer in August 2016. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Wikle served as Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of Columbus McKinnon Corporation, a publicly-traded worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of material handling products, systems and services, since April 2011. Ms. Wikle is a Certified Public Accountant.

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Each executive officer is elected annually by the Board of Directors and serves until his or her respective successor has been elected and qualified or his or her earlier death, resignation or removal.

Available Information

The Company is subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. The Company files or furnishes annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Readers may obtain a copy of the Company’s annual reports on Form 10-K, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or its current reports on Form 8-K, or any amendments to them, that are filed with or furnished to the SEC, free of charge, from the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, https://ir.amwater.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after the Company files or furnishes the information to the SEC.

The Company maintains a website at https://amwater.com. Information contained on the Company’s website shall not be deemed incorporated into, or to be a part of, this report, and any website references included herein are not intended to be made through active hyperlinks. The Company recognizes its website as a key channel of distribution to reach public investors and as a means of disclosing information to comply with SEC Regulation FD.

The American Water corporate governance guidelines and the charters for each of the standing committees of the Board of Directors, together with the American Water Code of Ethics and additional information regarding the Company’s corporate governance, are available on its Investor Relations website, https://ir.amwater.com, and will be made available, without charge, in print to any shareholder who requests such documents from its Investor Relations Department, American Water Works Company, Inc., 1 Water Street, Camden, NJ, 08102.

ITEM 1A.    RISK FACTORS

We operate in a market and regulatory environment that involves significant risks, many of which are beyond our control. In addition to the other information included or incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K, the following factors should be considered in evaluating our business and future prospects. Any of the following risks, either alone or taken together, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

Risks Related to Our Industry and Business Operations

Our utility operations are subject to extensive regulation by state PUCs and other regulatory agencies, which significantly affects our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our utility operations also may be subject to fines, penalties and other sanctions for the inability to meet these regulatory requirements.

Our Regulated Businesses provide water and wastewater services to our customers through subsidiaries that are subject to regulation by state PUCs. This regulation affects the rates we charge our customers and has a significant impact on our business and results of operations. Generally, the state PUCs authorize us to charge rates that they determine are sufficient to recover our prudently incurred operating expenses, including, but not limited to, operating and maintenance costs, depreciation, financing costs and taxes, and provide us the opportunity to earn an appropriate rate of return on invested capital.

Our ability to successfully implement our business plan and strategy depends on the rates authorized by the various state PUCs. We periodically file rate increase applications with state PUCs. The ensuing administrative process may be lengthy and costly. Our rate increase requests may or may not be approved, or may be partially approved, and any approval may not occur in a timely manner. Moreover, a PUC may not approve a rate request to an extent that is sufficient to:

• cover our expenses, including purchased water and costs of chemicals, fuel and other commodities used in our operations;

• enable us to recover our investment; and

• provide us with an opportunity to earn an appropriate rate of return on our investment.

Approval of the PUCs is also required in connection with other aspects of our utilities’ operations. Some state PUCs are empowered to impose financial penalties, fines and other sanctions for non-compliance with applicable rules and regulations. Our utilities are also required to have numerous permits, approvals and certificates from the PUCs that regulate their businesses and authorize acquisitions, dispositions, and, in certain cases, affiliated transactions. Although we believe that each utility subsidiary has obtained or sought renewal of the material permits, approvals and certificates necessary for its existing operations, we are unable to predict the impact that future regulatory activities may have on our business.

In any of these cases, our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity may be adversely affected. Even if rates are sufficient, we face the risk that we will not achieve the rates of return on our invested capital to the extent permitted by state PUCs. This could occur if certain conditions exist, including, but not limited to, if water usage is less than the level anticipated in establishing rates, or if our investments or expenses prove to be higher than the level estimated in establishing rates.

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Our operations and the quality of water we supply are subject to extensive and increasingly stringent environmental, water quality and health and safety laws and regulations, including with respect to emerging contaminants, compliance with which could impact both our operating costs and capital expenditures, and violations of which could subject us to substantial liabilities and costs, as well as damage to our reputation.

Our regulated water and wastewater operations and the operations of our Market-Based Businesses are subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations. These requirements include, among others, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the LCR and CERCLA. EPA requirements and similar federal and state laws and regulations. For example, state PUCs and environmental regulators set conditions and standards for the water and wastewater services we deliver. If we deliver water or wastewater services to our customers that do not comply with regulatory standards, or otherwise violate environmental laws, regulations or permits, or other health and safety and water quality regulations, we could incur substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions or costs, as well as damage to our reputation. In the most serious cases, regulators could reduce requested rate increases or force us to discontinue operations and sell our operating assets to another utility or to a municipality. Given the nature of our business which, in part, involves supplying water for human consumption, any potential non-compliance with, or violation of, environmental, water quality and health and safety laws or regulations would likely pose a more significant risk to us than to a company not similarly involved in the water and wastewater industry.

In addition, CERCLA authorizes the EPA to issue orders and bring enforcement actions to compel responsible parties to investigate and take remedial actions with respect to actual or threatened releases of hazardous substances, and can impose joint and several liability, without regard to fault, on responsible parties for the costs thereof. We are also required to obtain various environmental permits from regulatory agencies for our operations.

We incur substantial operating and capital costs on an ongoing basis to comply with environmental, water quality and health and safety laws and regulations. These laws and regulations, and their enforcement, generally have become more stringent over time, and new or stricter requirements could increase our costs. Although we may seek to recover ongoing compliance costs in our Regulated Businesses through customer rates, there can be no guarantee that the various state PUCs or similar regulatory bodies that govern our Regulated Businesses would approve rate increases that would enable us to recover such costs or that such costs will not materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

We may also incur liabilities if, under environmental laws and regulations, we are required to investigate and clean up environmental contamination, including potential releases of hazardous chemicals, such as chlorine, which we use to treat water, or at off-site locations where we have disposed of waste or caused an adverse environmental impact. The discovery of previously unknown conditions, or the imposition of cleanup obligations in the future, could result in significant costs and could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. Such remediation costs may not be covered by insurance and may make it difficult for us to secure insurance at acceptable rates in the future.

Attention is being given to emerging contaminants, including, without limitation, chemicals and other substances that currently do not have any regulatory standard in drinking water or have been recently created or discovered (including by means of scientific achievements in the analysis and detection of trace amounts of substances). Examples of sources of emerging contaminants include, but are not limited to, newly created chemical compounds (including, for example, manufactured nanomaterials); human and veterinary products; perfluorinated and polyfluorinated compounds; bacteria, microbes, viruses, amoebae and other pathogens; and residual by-products of disinfection. We rely upon governmental agencies to set appropriate regulatory standards to protect the public from these and other contaminants, and our role is to provide service that meets these standards, if any. In some of our states, PUCs may disapprove of cost recovery, in whole or in part, for implementation of treatment infrastructure for an emerging contaminant in the absence of a regulatory standard. Furthermore, given the rapid pace at which emerging contaminants are being created and/or discovered, we may not be able to detect and/or mitigate all such substances in our drinking water system or supplies, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and reputation. In addition, we believe emerging contaminants may form the basis for additional or increased federal or state regulatory initiatives and requirements in the future, which could significantly increase the cost of our operations.

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Limitations on availability of water supplies or restrictions on our use of water supplies as a result of government regulation or action may adversely affect our access to sources of water, our ability to supply water to customers or the demand for our water services.

Our ability to meet the existing and future demand of our customers depends on the availability of an adequate supply of water. As a general rule, sources of public water supply, including rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater aquifers, are held in the public trust and are not owned by private interests. As a result, we typically do not own the water that we use in our operations, and the availability of our water supply is established through allocation rights (determined by legislation or court decisions) and passing-flow requirements set by governmental entities. Passing-flow requirements set minimum volumes of water that must pass through specified water sources, such as rivers and streams, in order to maintain environmental habitats and meet water allocation rights of downstream users. Allocation rights are imposed to ensure sustainability of major water sources and passing-flow requirements are most often imposed on source waters from smaller rivers, lakes and streams. These requirements, which can change from time to time, and vary by state or region, may adversely impact our water supply. Supply issues, such as drought, overuse of sources of water, the protection of threatened species or habitats, contamination or other factors may limit the availability of ground and surface water.

For example, in our Monterey County, California operations, we are seeking to augment our sources of water supply, principally to comply with an October 20, 2009 cease and desist order (the “2009 Order”), as amended by an order in July 2016 (the “2016 Order”), of the SWRCB that requires California-American Water Company, our wholly owned subsidiary (“Cal Am”), to significantly decrease its diversions from the Carmel River in accordance with a reduction schedule that terminates on December 31, 2021 (the “2021 Deadline”). We are also required to augment our Monterey County sources of water supply to comply with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. We cannot predict whether Cal Am will be able to secure alternative sources of water, or if Cal Am will be exposed to liabilities, including fines and penalties, if it is unable to meet the 2021 Deadline under the 2016 Order. Furthermore, Cal Am continues to work constructively with all appropriate agencies to provide necessary information to obtain the required approvals for the Water Supply Project; however, due to the delay in the approval schedule, Cal Am currently does not believe that it will be able to fully comply with the diversion reduction requirements and other remaining requirements under the 2009 Order and the 2016 Order, including the 2021 Deadline. If Cal Am or any of our other subsidiaries are unable to secure an alternative source of water, or if other adverse consequences result from the events described above, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. See Item 3—Legal Proceedings—Alternative Water Supply in Lieu of Carmel River Diversions, which includes additional information regarding this matter.

Climate variability may cause increased volatility in weather and may impact water usage and related revenue or require additional expenditures, all of which may not be fully recoverable in rates or otherwise.

The issue of climate variability is receiving increasing attention nationally and worldwide. Some scientific experts are predicting a worsening of weather volatility in the future associated with climate variability. Many climate variability predictions, if true, present several potential challenges to water and wastewater utilities, including us, such as:

• increased frequency and duration of droughts;

• increased precipitation and flooding;

• increased frequency and severity of storms and other weather events;

• challenges associated with changes in temperature or increases in ocean levels;

• potential degradation of water quality;

• decreases in available water supply and changes in water usage patterns;

• increases in disruptions in service;

• increased costs to repair damaged facilities; or

• increased costs to reduce risks associated with the increasing frequency of natural events, including to improve the resiliency and reliability of our water production and delivery facilities and systems.

Because of the uncertainty of weather volatility related to climate variability, we cannot predict its potential impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. Although some or all potential expenditures and costs with respect to our Regulated Businesses could be recovered through rates, infrastructure replacement surcharges or other regulatory mechanisms, there can be no assurance that state PUCs would authorize rate increases to enable us to recover such expenditures and costs, in whole or in part.

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The current regulatory rate setting process may result in a significant delay, also known as “regulatory lag,” from the time that we invest in infrastructure improvements, incur increased operating expenses or experience declining water usage, to the time at which we can seek to address these events in rate case applications; our inability to minimize regulatory lag could adversely affect our business.

There is typically a delay, known as “regulatory lag,” between the time one of our regulated subsidiaries makes a capital investment or incurs an operating expense increase and the time when those costs are reflected in rates. In addition, billings permitted by state PUCs typically are, to a considerable extent, based on the volume of water usage in addition to a minimum base rate. Thus, we may experience regulatory lag between the time our revenues are affected by declining usage and the time we are able to adjust the rate per gallon of usage to address declining usage. Our inability to reduce regulatory lag could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

We endeavor to reduce regulatory lag by pursuing constructive regulatory policies. For example, three of our states have approved revenue stability mechanisms that adjust rates periodically to ensure that a utility’s revenue will be sufficient to cover its costs regardless of sales volume, including recognition of declining sales resulting from reduced consumption, while providing an incentive for customers to use water more efficiently. In addition, 11 of our state PUCs permit rates to be adjusted outside of the general rate case application process through surcharges that address certain capital investments, such as replacement of aging infrastructure. These surcharges are adjusted periodically based on factors such as project completion or future budgeted expenditures, and specific surcharges are eliminated once the related capital investment is incorporated in new PUC approved rates. Furthermore, in setting rates, ten of our state PUCs allow us to use future test years, which extend beyond the date a rate request is filed to allow for current or projected revenues, expenses and investments to be reflected in rates on a more timely basis. Other examples of such programs include states that allow us to increase rates for certain cost increases that are beyond our control, such as purchased water costs, property or other taxes, or power, conservation, chemical or other expenditures. These surcharge mechanisms enable us to adjust rates in less time after costs have been incurred than would be the case under the general rate case application process.

While these programs have reduced regulatory lag in several of our regulated states, we continue to seek expansion of programs to reduce regulatory lag in those jurisdictions that have not approved such programs. Furthermore, PUCs may fail to adopt new surcharge programs and existing programs may not continue in their current form, or at all. Although we intend to continue our efforts to expand state PUC approval of surcharges to address issues of regulatory lag, our efforts may not be successful, or even if successful they may not completely address our regulatory lag, in which case our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected.

Changes in laws and regulations and changes in certain agreements can significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

New legislation, regulations, government policies or court decisions, including, without limitation with respect to federal and state income and other tax laws, can materially affect our operations, results of operations and cash flows. The individuals who serve as regulators are elected or political appointees. Therefore, elections which result in a change of political administration or new appointments may also result in changes in the individuals who serve as regulators and the policies of the regulatory agencies that they serve. New laws or regulations, new interpretations of existing laws or regulations, changes in agency policy, including those made in response to shifts in public opinion, or conditions imposed during the regulatory hearing process could have the following consequences, among others:

• making it more difficult for us to increase our rates and, as a consequence, to recover our costs or earn our expected rates of return;

• changing the determination of the costs, or the amount of costs, that would be considered recoverable in rate cases;

• restricting our ability to terminate our services to customers who owe us money for services previously provided or limiting our bill collection efforts;

• requiring us to provide water or wastewater services at reduced rates to certain customers;

• limiting or restricting our ability to acquire water or wastewater systems, purchase or dispose of assets or issue securities, or making it less cost-effective for us to do so;

• negatively impacting the deductibility of expenses under federal or state tax laws, the amount of tax credits or tax abatement benefits that may be available, the amount of taxes owed, the timing of tax effects on rates, or the ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards;

• changing regulations that affect the benefits we expected to receive when we began offering services in a particular area;

• increasing the associated costs of, or difficulty complying with, environmental, health, safety, consumer privacy, water quality, and water quality accountability laws and regulations to which our operations are subject;

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• changing or placing additional limitations on change in control requirements relating to any concentration of ownership of our common stock;

• making it easier for governmental entities to convert our assets to public ownership via condemnation, eminent domain or other similar process, or for governmental agencies or private plaintiffs to assess liability against us for damages under these or similar processes;

• placing limitations, prohibitions or other requirements with respect to the sharing of information and participation in transactions by or between a regulated subsidiary and us or our other affiliates, including Service Company and any of our other subsidiaries;

• restricting or prohibiting our extraction of water from rivers, streams, reservoirs or aquifers; and

• revoking or altering the terms of a CPCN issued to us by a state PUC.

Any of the foregoing consequences could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

In addition, new Federal, state and local laws, changes in existing laws, rules or regulations, or administrative interpretations thereof, could impact us. In December 2017, the TCJA was signed into law, which, among other things, enacted significant and complex changes to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including a reduction in the maximum U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% as of January 1, 2018, and certain other provisions related specifically to the public utility industry, including the normalization of our deferred income taxes. The enactment of the TCJA required re-measurement of our deferred income taxes, which materially impacted our 2017 results of operations and financial position and had a lesser impact on our 2018 results of operations and financial position. Following enactment of the TCJA, the Company adjusted its customer rates and deferred income taxes to reflect the lower income tax rate as mandated by PUCs in jurisdictions that have addressed the issue. We expect that further impacts to our deferred income taxes will continue to occur through pending or future rate cases or other proceedings in the remaining jurisdictions. At this time, we cannot predict the impacts on us of the regulatory treatment of the TCJA in these remaining proceedings, or of the enactment or adoption of any Related Interpretations, if and when issued. Moreover, we are unable to determine or predict the potential impacts, if any, of any other new or amended laws, rules or regulations, or interpretations thereof, including, without limitation, further amendments to the Code or applicable Treasury regulations, to the extent they may be ultimately enacted, adopted or issued, on us or our businesses, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

Service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions, climate variability patterns or natural disasters may disrupt our operations or reduce the demand for our water services, which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

Service interruptions due to severe weather, climate variability patterns and other natural events are possible across all our businesses. These include, among other things, storms, freezing conditions, high wind conditions, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, drought, wildfires, coastal and intercoastal floods or high water conditions, including those in or near designated flood plains, severe electrical storms, sinkholes and solar flares. Weather and other natural events such as these may affect the condition or operability of our facilities, limiting or preventing us from delivering water or wastewater services to our customers, or requiring us to make substantial capital expenditures to repair any damage. Tariffs in place or cost recovery proceedings with respect to our Regulated Businesses may not provide reimbursement to us, in whole or in part, for any of these impacts.

Government restrictions on water use may also result in decreased use of water services, even if our water supplies are sufficient to serve our customers, which may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Seasonal drought conditions that may impact our water services are possible across all of our service areas. Governmental restrictions imposed in response to a drought may apply to all systems within a region independent of the supply adequacy of any individual system. Responses may range from voluntary to mandatory water use restrictions, rationing restrictions, water conservation regulations, and requirements to minimize water system leaks. While expenses incurred in implementing water conservation and rationing plans may generally be recoverable provided the relevant PUC determines they were reasonable and prudent, we cannot assure that any such expenses incurred will, in fact, be fully recovered. Moreover, reductions in water consumption, including those resulting from installation of equipment or changed consumer behavior, may persist even after drought restrictions are repealed and the drought has ended, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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A loss of one or more large industrial customers could have a material adverse impact upon the results of operations of one or more of our Regulated Businesses.

Adverse economic conditions or other factors can cause our customers, particularly industrial customers, to curtail operations. A curtailment of operations by an industrial customer would typically result in reduced water usage by that customer. In more severe circumstances, the decline in usage could be permanent. Any decrease in demand resulting from difficult economic conditions affecting these industrial customers could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Tariffs in place with respect to our Regulated Businesses may not reimburse us, in whole or in part, for any of these impacts.

Our Regulated Businesses require significant capital expenditures and may suffer if we fail to secure appropriate funding to make investments, or if we experience delays in completing major capital expenditure projects.

The water and wastewater utility business is capital intensive. We invest significant amounts of capital to add, replace and maintain property, plant and equipment, and to improve aging infrastructure. In 2019, we invested $1.7 billion in net Company-funded capital improvements. The level of capital expenditures necessary to maintain the integrity of our systems will continue into the future and may increase. We expect to fund capital improvement projects using cash generated from operations, borrowings under our revolving credit facility and commercial paper programs and issuances of long-term debt and equity. We may not be able to access our revolving credit facility or the commercial paper, long-term debt and equity capital markets, when necessary or desirable to fund capital improvements on favorable terms or at all. If we are not able to obtain sufficient financing, we may be unable to maintain our existing property, plant and equipment, fund our capital investment strategies, meet our growth targets and expand our rate base to enable us to earn satisfactory future returns on our investments. Even with adequate financial resources to make required capital expenditures, we face the additional risk that we will not complete our major capital projects on time, as a result of construction delays, permitting delays, labor shortages or other disruptions, environmental restrictions, or other obstacles. Each of these outcomes could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Aging infrastructure may lead to service disruptions, property damage and increased capital expenditures and O&M costs, all of which could negatively impact our financial results.

We have risks associated with aging infrastructure, including water and sewer mains, pumping stations and water and wastewater treatment facilities. Additionally, the nature of information available on buried and newly acquired assets may be limited, which may challenge our ability to conduct efficient asset management and maintenance practices. Assets that have aged beyond their expected useful lives may experience a higher rate of failure. Failure of aging infrastructure could result in increased capital expenditures and O&M costs, and negatively impact our future O&M efficiency ratio. In addition, failure of aging infrastructure may result in property damage, and in safety, environmental and public health impacts. To the extent that any increased costs or expenditures are not fully recovered in rates, our results of operations, liquidity and cash flows could be negatively impacted.

Seasonality could adversely affect the volume of water sold and our revenues.

The volume of water we sell during the warmer months, typically in the summer, is generally greater than during other months, due primarily to increased water usage for irrigation systems, swimming pools, cooling systems and other applications. Throughout the year, and particularly during typically warmer months, the volume of water sold tends to vary with temperature, rainfall levels and rainfall frequency. In the event that temperatures during the typically warmer months are cooler than normal, or if there is more rainfall than normal, the amount of water we sell may decrease and adversely affect our revenues.

Three of our jurisdictions, California, Illinois, and New York, have adopted revenue stability mechanisms that permit us to collect state PUC-authorized revenue for a given period, which is not tied to the volume of water sold during that period. Revenue stability mechanisms are designed to allow utilities to recover the fixed cost of operations while supporting water conservation goals. In those jurisdictions that have not adopted a revenue stability mechanism, operating results could continue to be affected by seasonality.

Regulatory and environmental risks associated with the collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater may impose significant costs.

The wastewater collection, treatment and disposal operations of our subsidiaries are subject to substantial regulation and involve environmental risks. If collection, treatment or disposal systems fail, overflow, or do not operate properly, untreated wastewater or other contaminants could spill onto nearby properties or into nearby streams and rivers, causing damage to persons or property, injury to aquatic life and economic damages. This risk is most acute during periods of substantial rainfall or flooding, which are the main causes of sewer overflow and system failure. Liabilities resulting from such damage could adversely and materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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Contamination of water supplies or our water service provided to our customers could result in service limitations and interruptions and exposure to substances not typically found in potable water supplies, and could subject us and our subsidiaries to reductions in usage and other responsive obligations, government enforcement actions, damage to our reputation and private litigation.

The water supplies that flow into our treatment plants or are delivered through our distribution system, or the water service that is provided to our customers, may be subject to contamination, including, among other items, contamination from naturally-occurring compounds, chemicals in groundwater systems, pollution resulting from man-made sources (such as perchlorate, methyl tertiary butyl ether, lead and other materials, chemical spills or other accidents that result in contaminants entering the water source), and possible terrorist attacks. In addition, new categories of these substances continue to emerge in the water industry. If one of our water supplies or the water service provided to our customers is contaminated, depending on the nature of the contamination, we may have to take responsive actions that could include, among other things (1) continuing limited use of the water supply under a “Do Not Use” protective order that enables continuation of basic sanitation and essential fire protection, or (2) interrupting the use of that water supply. If service is disrupted, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity and reputation may be adversely affected. In addition, we may incur significant costs in order to treat the contaminated source through the expansion of our current treatment facilities or the development of new sources of supply or new treatment methods. We may be unable to recover costs associated with treating or decontaminating water supplies through insurance, customer rates, tariffs or contract terms. Any recovery of these costs that we are able to obtain through regulatory proceedings or otherwise may not occur in a timely manner. Moreover, we could be subject to claims for damages arising from government enforcement actions or toxic tort or other lawsuits arising out of an interruption of service or human exposure to hazardous substances in our drinking water and water supplies.

Since we engage in the business of providing water service to our customers, contamination of the water supply, or the water service provided to our customers, could result in substantial injury or damage to our customers, employees or others and we could be exposed to substantial claims and litigation. Such claims could relate to, among other things, personal injury, loss of life, business interruption, property damage, pollution, and environmental damage and may be brought by our customers or third parties. Litigation and regulatory proceedings are subject to inherent uncertainties and unfavorable rulings can and do occur, and we may not be protected from these claims or negative impacts therefrom in whole or in part by tariffs or other contract terms. Negative impacts to our reputation may occur even if we are not liable for any contamination or other environmental damage or the consequences arising out of human exposure to contamination or hazardous substances in the water or water supplies. In addition, insurance coverage may not cover all or a portion of these losses, and are subject to deductibles and other limitations. Pending or future claims against us could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We may sustain losses that exceed or are excluded from our insurance coverage or for which we are self-insured.

We maintain insurance coverage as part of our overall legal and risk management strategy to minimize potential liabilities arising from our utility operations, as well as the operations of our Market-Based Businesses. Our insurance programs have varying coverage limits, exclusions and maximums, and insurance companies may seek to deny claims we might make. Generally, our insurance policies cover property damage, worker’s compensation, employer’s liability, general liability, cybersecurity, terrorism risks and automobile liability. Each policy includes deductibles or self-insured retentions and policy limits for covered claims. As a result, we may sustain losses that exceed or that are excluded from our insurance coverage or for which we are self-insured.

Although in the past we have been generally able to obtain insurance coverage related to our business, there can be no assurance that we can secure all necessary or appropriate insurance in the future, or that such insurance can be economically secured. For example, catastrophic events can result in decreased coverage limits, more limited coverage, increased premium costs or deductibles.

We are subject to adverse publicity and reputational risks, which make us vulnerable to negative customer perception and could lead to increased regulatory oversight or sanctions.

Our business and operations have a large direct and indirect customer base and, as a result, we are exposed to public criticism regarding, among other things, the reliability of their water, wastewater and related or ancillary services, the quality of water provided, and the amount, timeliness, accuracy and format of bills that are provided for such services. Adverse publicity and negative consumer sentiment may render legislatures and other governing bodies, state PUCs and other regulatory authorities, and government officials less likely to view us in a favorable light, and may cause us to be susceptible to less favorable legislative, regulatory and economic outcomes, as well as increased regulatory or other oversight and more stringent regulatory or economic requirements. Unfavorable regulatory and economic outcomes may include the enactment of more stringent laws and regulations governing our operations and less favorable economic terms in our agreements related to our Market-Based Businesses, as well as fines, penalties or other sanctions or requirements. The imposition of any of the foregoing could have a material negative impact on us and our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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For example, New York American Water Company, Inc. (“NYAW”) has been the subject of a New York State Public Service Commission (“NYSPSC”) investigation related to the unintentional provision of incorrect data to a taxing authority that resulted in an over-assessment of real property taxes. NYAW self-reported this issue to the NYSPSC promptly after NYAW’s senior leadership became aware of it. Neither NYAW nor any of its employees received any financial benefit as a result of this matter, as all customer overpayments were provided to the local taxing authorities. The NYSPSC investigation also related to the failure of a few employees working on NYAW’s 2016 general rate case to properly disclose these issues in that rate case. In September 2018, a settlement of these matters was approved by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Albany County, and NYAW has been working with the New York State Department of Public Service to implement its terms. While the settlement resolves the NYSPSC’s investigation involving NYAW and those matters set forth above, there can be no assurance that NYAW will not be subject to additional federal, state or local proceedings regarding these and other related matters, and these proceedings could result in increased oversight and civil, administrative and/or criminal sanctions, which may have a material adverse effect upon our reputation and perception.

The failure of, or the requirement to repair, upgrade or dismantle, any of our dams may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

The properties of our Regulated Businesses segment include 76 dams, the majority of which are earthen dams, and the failure of any of which could result in personal injury and property damage, including without limitation downstream property damage, for which we may be liable. The failure of a dam would also adversely affect our ability to supply water in sufficient quantities to our customers and could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Any losses or liabilities incurred due to a failure of one of our dams might not be covered by insurance policies or be recoverable in rates, and such losses may make it difficult for us to secure insurance at acceptable rates in the future.

We also are required from time to time to decommission, repair or upgrade the dams that we own. The cost of such repairs or upgrades can be and has been material. The federal and state agencies that regulate our operations may adopt rules and regulations requiring us to dismantle our dams, which also could entail material costs. Although in most cases, the PUC has permitted recovery of expenses and capital investment related to dam rehabilitation, we might not be able to recover costs of repairs, upgrades or dismantling through rates in the future. The inability to recover these costs or delayed recovery of the costs as a result of regulatory lag can affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

Any failure of our network of water and wastewater pipes and water reservoirs could result in losses and damages that may affect our financial condition and reputation.

Our operating subsidiaries distribute water and collect wastewater through an extensive network of pipes and storage systems located across the United States. A failure of major pipes or reservoirs could result in injuries, property and other damage for which we may be liable. The failure of major pipes and reservoirs may also result in the need to shut down some facilities or parts of our network in order to conduct repairs. Such failures and shutdowns may limit our ability to supply water in sufficient quantities to our customers and to meet the water and wastewater delivery requirements prescribed by government regulators, including state PUCs with jurisdiction over our operations, and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity and reputation. Any business interruption or other losses might not be covered by insurance policies or be recoverable in rates, and such losses may make it difficult for us to secure insurance at acceptable rates in the future. Moreover, to the extent such business interruptions or other losses are not covered by insurance, they may not be recovered through rate adjustments.

An important part of our growth strategy is the acquisition of water and wastewater systems, which involves risks, including competition for acquisition opportunities from other regulated utilities, governmental entities and other buyers, that may hinder or limit our ability to grow our business.

An important element of our growth strategy is the acquisition and optimization of water and wastewater systems in order to broaden our current, and move into new, service areas. We may not be able to acquire other systems or businesses if we cannot identify suitable acquisition opportunities or reach mutually agreeable terms with acquisition candidates. Further, competition for acquisition opportunities from other regulated utilities, governmental entities, and other buyers may hinder our ability to expand our business.

The negotiation and execution of potential acquisitions as well as the integration of acquired systems or businesses with our existing operations could require us to incur significant costs and cause diversion of our management’s time and resources. Future acquisitions by us could result in, among other things:

• incurrence or assumption of debt, contingent liabilities and environmental liabilities of or with respect to an acquired business, including liabilities that were unknown at the time of acquisition;

• failure to recover acquisition premiums;

• unanticipated capital expenditures;

• failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting;

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• the need to successfully integrate the acquired systems’ cybersecurity and infrastructure protection measures with those of the Company’s;

• recording goodwill and other intangible assets at values that ultimately may be subject to impairment charges;

• fluctuations in quarterly results;

• unanticipated acquisition-related expenses;

• failure to realize anticipated benefits, such as cost savings and revenue enhancements; and

• difficulties in integrating or assimilating personnel, benefits, services and systems.

Some or all of these items could have a material adverse effect on our business. The systems and businesses we acquire in the future may not achieve anticipated sales and profitability or other perceived synergies, and any difficulties we encounter in the integration process could interfere with our operations, reduce our operating margins and adversely affect our internal control over financial reporting.

We compete with governmental entities, other regulated utilities, and strategic and financial buyers for acquisition opportunities. If consolidation becomes more prevalent in the water and wastewater industries and competition for acquisitions increases, the prices for suitable acquisition candidates may increase and limit our ability to expand through acquisitions.

Our Regulated Businesses are subject to condemnation and other proceedings through eminent domain or other similar authorized process, which could materially and adversely affect their results of operations and financial condition.

Municipalities and other government subdivisions have historically been involved in the provision of water and wastewater services in the United States, and organized efforts may arise from time to time in one or more of the service areas in which our Regulated Businesses operate to convert our assets to public ownership and operation through exercise of the governmental power of eminent domain, or another similar authorized process. A municipality or other government subdivision or a citizen group may seek to acquire our assets through eminent domain or such other process, either directly or indirectly as a result of a citizen petition.

For example, in November 2018, Monterey, California ballot Measure J was certified as having been approved by a public vote, requiring the MPWMD to conduct a study and submit a written plan concerning the feasibility of a potential purchase of the Monterey system assets without an additional public vote. On November 6, 2019, the MPWMD issued a preliminary report finding, among other things, that the acquisition of the Monterey system assets by the MPWMD would be economically feasible. Also, five municipalities in the Chicago, Illinois area formed a water agency that filed an eminent domain lawsuit against our Illinois subsidiary in January 2013, seeking to condemn a water pipeline that serves those five municipalities. This lawsuit remains pending, and a valuation trial is likely to be held in the near future. See Item 1—Business—Regulated Businesses—Condemnation and Eminent Domain, which includes additional information regarding these matters.

Furthermore, the law in certain jurisdictions in which our Regulated Businesses operate provides for eminent domain rights allowing private property owners to file a lawsuit to seek just compensation against a public utility, if the public utility’s infrastructure has been determined to be a substantial cause of damage to that property. In these actions, the plaintiff would not have to prove that the public utility acted negligently. In California, lawsuits have been filed in connection with large-scale natural events such as wildfires. Some have included allegations that infrastructure of certain utilities triggered the natural event that resulted in damage to the property. In some cases, the PUC has disallowed recovery in rates of losses incurred by these utilities as a result of such lawsuits.

Contesting an exercise of condemnation, eminent domain or other similar process, or responding to a citizen petition, may result in costly legal proceedings and may divert the attention of management. Moreover, our efforts to resist the condemnation, eminent domain or other process may not be successful, which may require us to sell the operations at issue in a condemnation proceeding or to pay a private property owner compensation for the property damage suffered. If a municipality or other government subdivision succeeds in acquiring the assets of one or more of our Regulated Businesses through eminent domain or other process, there is a risk that we will not receive adequate compensation for the business, that we will not be able to keep the compensation, or that we will not be able to divest the business without incurring significant charges. Any of these outcomes may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and liquidity.

We rely on operational and technology systems to facilitate the management of our business and customer and supplier relationships, and a disruption of these systems could adversely affect our business.

Our operational and technology systems are an integral part of our business, and any disruption of these systems could significantly limit our ability to manage and operate our business efficiently, which, in turn, could cause our business and competitive position to suffer and adversely affect our results of operations. For example, we depend on these systems to bill customers, process orders, provide customer service, manage certain plant operations and construction projects, manage our financial records, track assets, remotely monitor certain of our plants and facilities and manage human resources, supply chain, inventory and accounts receivable collections.

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Although we do not believe that these systems are at a materially greater risk of failure than other similar organizations, our technology systems remain vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

• power loss, computer systems failures, and internet, telecommunications or data network failures;

• operator error or improper operation by, the negligent or improper supervision of, or the intentional acts of, employees and contractors;

• physical and electronic loss of customer or employee data due to security breaches, cyber attacks, hacking, denial of services action, misappropriation of data or other property and similar events;

• computer viruses; and

• severe weather and other events, including without limitation, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, earthquakes and other disasters.

These events may result in physical and electronic loss of customer, employee or financial data, security breaches, misappropriation of property and other adverse consequences. In addition, a lack of or inadequate levels of redundancy for certain of these systems, including billing systems, could exacerbate the impact of any of these events on us. We may not be successful in developing or acquiring technology that is competitive and responsive to the needs of our business, and we might lack sufficient resources to make the necessary upgrades or replacements of outdated existing technology to enable us to continue to operate at our current level of efficiency. Any or all of these events could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We may be subject to physical and/or cyber attacks.

As operators of critical infrastructure, we may face a heightened risk of physical and/or cyber attacks from internal or external sources. Our water and wastewater systems may be vulnerable to disability or failures as a result of physical or cyber attacks, acts of war or terrorism, vandalism or other causes. Our operational and technology systems throughout our businesses may be vulnerable to unauthorized external or internal access, due to hacking, viruses, acts of war or terrorism, and other causes. Unauthorized access to confidential information located or stored on these systems could negatively and materially impact our customers, employees, suppliers and other third parties. Further, third parties, including vendors, suppliers and contractors, who perform certain services for us or administer and maintain our sensitive information, could also be targets of cyber attacks and unauthorized access. While we have instituted safeguards to protect our operational and technology systems, those safeguards may not always be effective due to the evolving nature of cyber attacks and cyber vulnerabilities. We cannot guarantee that such protections will be completely successful in the event of a cyber attack.

If, despite our security measures, a significant physical attack or cyber breach occurred, our operations could be disrupted, property damaged, and customer and other confidential information lost or stolen; experience substantial loss of revenues, response costs and other financial loss; suffer a loss of management time, attention and resources from our regular business operations; and be subject to increased regulation, litigation, and damage to our reputation, any of which could have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and cash flows. Experiencing a cyber security incident could also cause us to be non-compliant with applicable laws and regulations or contracts that require us to securely maintain confidential data, causing us to incur costs related to legal claims or proceedings and regulatory fines or penalties. These types of events, either impacting our facilities or the industry in general, could also cause us to incur additional security and insurance related costs.

In addition, in the ordinary course of business, we collect and retain sensitive information, including personally identifiable information, about our customers and employees. In many cases, we outsource administration of certain functions to vendors that could be targets of cyber attacks. Any theft, loss and/or fraudulent use of customer, employee or proprietary data as a result of a cyber attack could subject us to significant litigation, liability and costs, as well as adversely impact our reputation with customers and regulators, among others.

We have obtained cyber insurance to provide coverage for a portion of the losses and damages that may result from a security breach, but such insurance is subject to a number of exclusions and may not cover the total loss or damage caused by a breach. The market for cybersecurity insurance is relatively new and coverage available for cybersecurity events may evolve as the industry matures. In the future, adequate insurance may not be available at rates that we believe are reasonable, and the costs of responding to and recovering from a cyber incident may not be covered by insurance or recoverable in rates.

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Our inability to efficiently upgrade and improve our operational and technology systems, or implement new systems, could result in higher than expected costs or otherwise adversely impact our internal controls environment, operations and profitability.

Upgrades and improvements to computer systems and networks, or the implementation of new systems, may require substantial amounts of management’s time and financial resources to complete, and may also result in system or network defects or operational errors due to multiple factors, including employees’ ability to effectively use the new or upgraded system. We continue to implement technology to improve our business processes and customer interactions, and have installed new, and upgraded existing, technology systems. These efforts support our broader strategic initiatives and are intended to improve our operations and enhance our customer service capabilities. Any technical or other difficulties in upgrading and improving existing or implementing new technology systems may increase costs beyond those anticipated and have an adverse or disruptive effect on our operations and reporting processes, including our internal control over financial reporting. We may also experience difficulties integrating current systems with new or upgraded systems, which may impact our ability to serve our customers effectively or efficiently. Although we make efforts to minimize any adverse impact on our controls, business and operations, we cannot assure that all such impacts have been or will be mitigated, and any such impacts could harm our business (individually or collectively) and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

An inability to successfully develop and implement new technologies poses substantial risks to our business and operational excellence strategies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

A significant part of our long-term strategic focus on safety, operational excellence, O&M expense efficiency, water quality, asset and capital management and the customer experience includes the development and implementation of new technologies to be used for, among other things: customer service and support; environmental compliance; water metering; water quality and source monitoring; cybersecurity; business development and growth; data analysis; employee development and training; and other initiatives. For example, we have made and plan to continue to make significant investments in developing, deploying and maintaining customer-facing technologies, applications to support field service and customer service operations, water source sensor and evaluation technologies, and data analysis and artificial intelligence technologies. Where appropriate, we also seek to align these new technologies with existing technology infrastructure and systems.

There can be no assurance that we will be successful in designing, developing, deploying, integrating or maintaining these new technologies, and if they do not perform effectively or adequately serve their respective business objectives, their value to us and our business and operations may be negatively and materially impacted. Because these efforts can be long-term in nature, these new technologies may be more costly or time-consuming than expected to design, develop, integrate and complete and may not ultimately deliver the expected or desired benefits upon completion. Technologies that do not perform as intended or desired may need to be redesigned, redeveloped or abandoned. While we have and will continue to seek to recover costs and earn a return on capital expenditures with respect to the costs and expenses of development and deployment of these new technologies in our Regulated Businesses, there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so in every instance or at all. Our failure to timely and effectively invest in, develop, deploy and implement improvements to, and properly maintain the operation and integrity of, our new technologies, including related data and other related systems, and/or adequately obtain recovery in rates of the costs and expenses associated with such activities, may adversely affect our ability to achieve intended O&M expense efficiencies or other key performance results and, ultimately, could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

All of the intellectual property that has been or is being used or developed in connection with these technologies, we believe we own, or have valid licenses to use. However, competitors, contracting parties or other third parties may bring claims against us to challenge our right to use, license, sub-license, market or monetize, in whole or in part, such intellectual property or derivatives thereof or works made therefrom, and the assertion, defense or protection of our intellectual property rights could be expensive, time-consuming and ultimately unsuccessful. If we are unable to do so, or it is determined that we do not own or have valid licenses or other rights to any of the intellectual property used in our technologies, we may lose valuable rights to what we regard as our intellectual property, the carrying values of the affected technologies may need to be decreased significantly, and we may be required to obtain or purchase licenses at significant cost from third parties to use the intellectual property. In any of these cases, we may be unable to execute our long-term strategy, and our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially and adversely impacted.

Our business has inherently dangerous workplaces. If we fail to maintain safe work sites, we may experience workforce injuries or loss of life, and be exposed to financial losses, including penalties and other liabilities.

Safety is a core value and a strategy at American Water. Our safety performance and continual progress to our ultimate desired goal of zero injuries is critical to our reputation. We maintain health and safety standards to protect our employees, customers, contractors, vendors and the public. Although we intend to adhere to such health and safety standards with a goal of achieving zero injuries, it is extremely challenging to eliminate all safety incidents at all times.

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At our business sites, including construction and maintenance sites, our employees, contractors and others are often in close proximity to large pieces of equipment, moving vehicles, pressurized water, underground trenches and vaults, chemicals and other regulated materials. On many sites, we are responsible for safety and, accordingly, must implement important safety procedures and practices above what governmental regulations require. If we fail to implement such procedures or if the procedures we implement are ineffective or are not followed by our employees or others, our employees, contractors and others may experience minor, serious or fatal injuries. Unsafe work sites have the potential to increase employee turnover, expose us to litigation and raise our operating costs. Any of the foregoing could result in financial losses, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In addition, our operations can involve the delivery, handling and storage of hazardous chemicals, which, if improperly delivered, handled, stored or disposed of, could result in serious injury, death, environmental damage or property damage, and could subject us to penalties or other liabilities. We are also subject to regulations dealing with occupational health and safety. Although we maintain functional employee groups whose primary purpose is to ensure we implement effective health and, safety work procedures and practices throughout our organization, including construction sites and maintenance sites, the failure to comply with such regulations or procedures could subject us to liability.

Work stoppages and other labor relations matters could adversely affect our results of operations.

As of December 31, 2019, approximately 46% of our workforce was represented by unions, and we had 71 collective bargaining agreements in place with 14 different unions representing our unionized employees. These collective bargaining agreements, including four which are beyond expiration and 14 which will expire during 2020, are subject to periodic renewal and renegotiation. We may not be able to successfully renew or renegotiate these labor contracts on terms that are fair to us. Any negotiations or dispute resolution processes undertaken in connection with our labor contracts could be delayed or affected by labor actions or work stoppages. Labor actions, work stoppages or the threat of work stoppages, and our failure to obtain favorable labor contract terms during renegotiations, may disrupt our operations and result in higher labor costs, which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. While we have developed contingency plans to be implemented as necessary if a work stoppage or strike does occur, a strike or work stoppage may have a material adverse impact on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our continued success is dependent upon our ability to hire, retain, and utilize qualified personnel.

The success of our business is dependent upon our ability to hire, retain, and utilize qualified personnel, including engineers, licensed operators, water quality and other operating and craft personnel, and management professionals who have the required experience and expertise. From time to time, it may be difficult to attract and retain qualified individuals with the expertise and in the timeframe demanded for our business needs. In certain geographic areas, for example, we may not be able to satisfy the demand for our services because of our inability to successfully hire and retain qualified personnel.

In addition, as key personnel approach retirement age, we need to have appropriate succession plans in place and to successfully implement such plans. If we cannot attract and retain qualified personnel or effectively implement appropriate succession plans, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially and adversely impacted.

Financial and Market-Related Risks

Our indebtedness could affect our business adversely and limit our ability to plan for or respond to changes in our business, and we may be unable to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our liquidity needs.

As of December 31, 2019, our aggregate long-term and short-term debt balance (including preferred stock with mandatory redemption requirements) was $9.5 billion, and our working capital (defined as current assets less current liabilities) was in a deficit position. Our indebtedness could have important consequences, including:

• limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital requirements or capital expenditures;

• exposing us to interest rate risk with respect to the portion of our indebtedness that bears interest at variable rates;

• limiting our ability to pay dividends on our common stock or make payments in connection with our other obligations;

• impairing our access to the capital markets for debt and equity;

• requiring that an increasing portion of our cash flows from operations be dedicated to the payment of the principal and interest on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for future operations, dividends on our common stock or capital expenditures;

• limiting our ability to take advantage of significant business opportunities, such as acquisition opportunities, and to react to changes in market or industry conditions; and

• placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to those of our competitors that have less debt.

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In order to meet our capital expenditure needs, we may be required to make additional borrowings under our revolving credit facility or issue a combination of new short-term and long-term debt securities and equity. Moreover, additional borrowings may be required to refinance outstanding indebtedness. Debt maturities and sinking fund payments in 2020, 2021 and 2022 will be $28 million, $310 million and $14 million, respectively. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to access the debt or equity capital markets on favorable terms, if at all. Moreover, if new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks we now face could intensify, limiting our ability to refinance existing debt on favorable terms.

In an attempt to manage our exposure to interest rate risk associated with our issuance of variable and fixed rate debt, we have in the past entered into, and in the future may enter into, financial derivative instruments, including without limitation, interest rate swaps, forward starting swaps, swaptions and U.S. Treasury lock agreements. See Item 7A—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk. However, these efforts may not be effective to fully mitigate interest rate risk, and may expose us to other risks and uncertainties, including quarterly “mark to market” valuation risk associated with these instruments, that could negatively and materially affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our ability to pay our expenses and satisfy our debt service obligations depends in significant part on our future performance, which will be affected by the financial, business, economic, competitive, legislative (including tax initiatives and reforms, and other similar legislation or regulation), regulatory and other risk factors described in this section, many of which are beyond our control. If we do not have sufficient cash flows to pay the principal and interest on our outstanding debt, we may be required to refinance all or part of our existing debt, reduce capital investments, sell assets, borrow additional funds or sell additional equity. In addition, if our business does not generate sufficient cash flows from operations, or if we are unable to incur indebtedness sufficient to enable us to fund our liquidity needs, we may be unable to plan for or respond to changes in our business, which could cause our financial condition, operating results and prospects to be affected materially and adversely.

Our inability to access the capital or financial markets or other events could affect our ability to meet our liquidity needs at reasonable cost and our ability to meet long-term commitments, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

In addition to cash from operations, we rely primarily on our revolving credit facility, commercial paper program, and the capital markets to satisfy our liquidity needs. In this regard, our principal external sources of short-term liquidity are our $2.10 billion commercial paper program and our $2.25 billion revolving credit facility. Our revolving credit facility currently expires in accordance with its terms in March 2024, although under those terms we may request to extend the expiration date for up to one year. We regularly use our commercial paper program under this revolving credit facility as a principal source of short-term borrowing due to the generally more attractive rates we generally can obtain in the commercial paper market. As of December 31, 2019, American Water Capital Corp. (“AWCC”), our wholly owned financing subsidiary, had no outstanding borrowings under the revolving credit facility, and had $786 million of commercial paper outstanding and $76 million in outstanding letters of credit. There can be no assurance that AWCC will be able to continue to access its commercial paper program or its revolving credit facility, when, as and if desired, or that the amount of capital available thereunder will be sufficient to meet all of our liquidity needs at a reasonable, or any, cost.

Under the terms of our revolving credit facility, our consolidated debt cannot exceed 70% of our consolidated capitalization, as determined under the terms of the credit facility. If our equity were to decline or debt were to increase to a level that caused our debt to exceed this limit, lenders under the credit facility would be entitled to refuse any further extension of credit and to declare all of the outstanding debt under the credit facility immediately due and payable. To avoid such a default, a waiver or renegotiation of this covenant would be required, which would likely increase funding costs and could result in additional covenants that would restrict our operational and financing flexibility.

Our ability to comply with this and other covenants contained in the revolving credit facility and our other consolidated indebtedness is subject to various risks and uncertainties, including events beyond our control. For example, events that could cause a reduction in equity include, without limitation, a significant write-down of our goodwill. Even if we are able to comply with this or other covenants, the limitations on our operational and financial flexibility could harm our business by, among other things, limiting our ability to incur indebtedness or reduce equity in connection with financings or other corporate opportunities that we may believe would be in our best interests or the interests of our shareholders to complete.

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Disruptions in the capital markets or changes in our credit ratings could also limit our ability to access capital on terms favorable to us or at all. For example, on April 1, 2019, Moody’s Investors Service changed the Company’s senior unsecured debt rating to Baa1, from A3, with a stable outlook. While the lending banks that participate in our revolving credit facility have met all of their obligations, disruptions in the credit markets, changes in our credit ratings, or deterioration of the banking industry’s financial condition could discourage or prevent lenders from meeting their existing lending commitments, extending the terms of such commitments, or agreeing to new commitments. These or other occurrences may cause our lenders to not meet their existing commitments, and we may not be able to access the commercial paper or loan or capital markets in the future on terms acceptable to us or at all. Furthermore, our inability to maintain, renew or replace commitments under this facility could materially increase our cost of capital and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Longer-term disruptions in the capital and credit markets as a result of economic, legislative, political or other uncertainty, including as a result of changes in U.S. tax and other laws, reduced financing alternatives, or failures of significant financial institutions could adversely affect our access to the liquidity needed for our business. Any significant disruption in the capital, debt or credit markets, or financial institution failures could require us to take measures to conserve cash until the market stabilizes or until alternative financing can be arranged. Such measures could include deferring capital expenditures, reducing or suspending dividend payments, and reducing other discretionary expenditures. Finally, there is no assurance that we will be able to access the equity capital markets to obtain financing when necessary or desirable and on terms that are reasonable or acceptable to us.

Any of the foregoing events that impede our access to the capital markets, or the failure of any of our lenders to meet their commitments that result from financial market disruptions, could expose us to increased interest expense, require us to institute cash conservation measures or otherwise adversely and materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.

Parent company may be unable to meet its ongoing and future financial obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock if its subsidiaries are unable to pay upstream dividends or repay funds.

Parent company is a holding company and, as such, it has no substantive operations of its own. Substantially all of our consolidated assets are held by subsidiaries. Parent company’s ability to meet its financial obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock is primarily dependent on the net income and cash flows of its subsidiaries and their ability to pay upstream dividends or repay indebtedness to parent company. Prior to paying dividends to parent company, our regulated subsidiaries must comply with applicable regulatory restrictions and financial obligations, including, for example, debt service and preferred and preference stock dividends, as well as applicable corporate, tax and other laws and regulations and agreements, and our covenants and other agreements. Our subsidiaries are separate legal entities and have no obligation to pay or upstream dividends to parent company. A failure or inability of any of these subsidiaries to pay such dividends or repay intercompany obligations could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity and parent company’s ability to pay dividends on its common stock and meet its other obligations.

We may not be able to fully utilize our U.S. and state net operating loss carryforwards.

As of December 31, 2019, we had U.S. federal and state NOL carryforwards of approximately $673 million and $453 million, respectively, and management believes it is more likely than not that these NOL carryforwards will be recovered in the future. With the enactment of the TCJA, the Company analyzed the impacts of the reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% on the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities, including its NOL carryforwards, and as a result, remeasured those NOL carryforwards as of the date of enactment of the TCJA based on this tax rate change.

Our federal NOL carryforwards will begin to expire in 2028, and our state NOL carryforwards began to expire in 2019 and will continue to expire through 2038. We expect to fully utilize our federal NOL balance before it expires, and our ability to do so is primarily dependent upon our ability to generate sufficient taxable income. We have, in the past, been unable to utilize certain of our state NOL carryforwards, and the establishment or increase of a valuation allowance in the future would reduce our deferred income tax assets and our net income.

Our actual results may differ from those estimated by management in making its assessment as to our ability to use the NOL carryforwards. Moreover, adoption of Related Interpretations with respect to the TCJA and other changes in income tax laws, the economy and the general business environment could affect the future utilization of our NOL carryforwards. If we are unable to fully utilize our NOL carryforwards to offset taxable income generated in the future, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

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We have recorded a significant amount of goodwill, and we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets, causing us to record impairments that may negatively affect our results of operations.

Our total assets include $1.5 billion of goodwill at December 31, 2019. The goodwill is primarily associated with the acquisition of American Water by an affiliate of our previous owner in 2003, the acquisition of E’town Corporation by a predecessor to our previous owner in 2001 and our acquisition of Pivotal in 2018. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price the purchaser paid over the fair value of the net tangible and other intangible assets acquired. Goodwill is recorded at fair value on the date of an acquisition and is reviewed annually or more frequently if changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. As required by the applicable accounting rules, we have taken significant non-cash charges to operating results for goodwill impairments in the past.

We may be required to recognize an impairment of goodwill in the future due to market conditions or other factors related to our performance or the performance of an acquired business. These market conditions could include a decline over a period of time of our stock price, a decline over a period of time in valuation multiples of comparable water utilities, market price performance of our common stock that compares unfavorably to our peer companies, decreases in control premiums, or other circumstances. For example, in the third quarter of 2018, prior to our sale of Keystone, we strategically narrowed the scope of that business and, as a result, we recorded a non-cash, pre-tax impairment charge of $57 million. See Note 8—Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

A decline in the results forecasted in our business plan due to events such as changes in rate case results, capital investment budgets or interest rates, could also result in an impairment charge. Recognition of impairments of goodwill would result in a charge to income in the period in which the impairment occurred, which may negatively affect our financial condition, results of operations and total capitalization. The effects of any such impairment could be material and could make it more difficult to maintain our credit ratings, secure financing on attractive terms, maintain compliance with debt covenants and meet the expectations of our regulators.

Market volatility and other conditions may impact the value of benefit plan assets and liabilities, as well as assumptions related to the benefit plans, which may require us to provide significant additional funding.

The performance of the capital markets affects the values of the assets that are held in trust to satisfy significant future obligations under our pension and postretirement benefit plans. The value of these assets is subject to market fluctuations and volatility, which may cause investment returns to fall below our projected return rates. A decline in the market value of the pension and postretirement benefit plan assets can increase the funding requirements under our pension and postretirement benefit plans. Additionally, our pension and postretirement benefit plan liabilities are sensitive to changes in interest rates. If interest rates decrease, our liabilities would increase, potentially increasing benefit expense and funding requirements. Further, changes in demographics, such as increases in life expectancy assumptions and increasing trends in health care costs may also increase our funding requirements. Future increases in pension and other postretirement costs as a result of reduced plan assets may not be fully recoverable in rates, in which case our results of operations and financial position could be negatively affected.

In addition, market factors can affect assumptions we use in determining funding requirements with respect to our pension and postretirement plans. For example, a relatively modest change in our assumptions regarding discount rates can materially affect our calculation of funding requirements. To the extent that market data compels us to reduce the discount rate used in our assumptions, our benefit obligations could be materially increased, which could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

New accounting standards or changes to existing accounting standards could materially impact how we report our results of operations, cash flow and financial condition.

Our Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The SEC, the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other authoritative bodies or governmental entities may issue new pronouncements or new interpretations of existing accounting standards that may require us to change our accounting policies. These changes are beyond our control, can be difficult to predict and could materially impact how we report our results of operations, cash flow and financial condition. We could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, which could also adversely affect our previously reported results of operations, cash flow and financial condition.

Undetected errors in internal controls and information reporting could result in the disallowance of cost recovery and noncompliant disclosure.

Our internal controls, accounting policies and practices and internal information systems are designed to enable us to capture and process transactions and information in a timely and accurate manner in compliance with GAAP, taxation requirements, federal securities laws and regulations and other laws and regulations applicable to us. Such compliance permits us to, among other things, disclose and report financial and other information in connection with the recovery of our costs and with the reporting requirements under federal securities, tax and other laws and regulations.

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We have implemented corporate governance, internal control and accounting policies and procedures in connection with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) and relevant SEC rules, as well as other applicable regulations. Such internal controls and policies have been and continue to be closely monitored by our management and Board of Directors to ensure continued compliance with these laws, rules and regulations. Management is also responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control over financial reporting and is required to assess annually the effectiveness of these controls. While we believe these controls, policies, practices and systems are adequate to verify data integrity, unanticipated and unauthorized actions of employees or temporary lapses in internal controls due to shortfalls in oversight or resource constraints could lead to undetected errors that could result in the disallowance of cost recovery and non-compliant disclosure and reporting. The consequences of these events could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition. The inability of management to certify as to the effectiveness of these controls due to the identification of one or more material weaknesses in these controls could also harm our reputation, increase financing costs or adversely affect our or AWCC’s ability to access the capital markets.

Additional Risks Related to Our Market-Based Businesses

We (excluding our regulated subsidiaries) provide performance guarantees with respect to certain obligations of our Market-Based Businesses, including financial guarantees or deposits, to our public-sector and public clients, and these clients may seek to enforce the guarantees if our Market-Based Businesses do not satisfy these obligations.

Under the terms of some of our agreements for the provision of services to water and wastewater facilities with municipalities, other governmental entities and other customers, American Water (excluding our regulated subsidiaries) provides guarantees of specified performance obligations of our Market-Based Businesses, including financial guarantees or deposits, primarily related to MSG. In the event our Market-Based Businesses fail to perform these obligations, the entity holding the guarantees may seek to enforce the performance commitments against American Water (excluding our regulated subsidiaries) or proceed against the deposit. In that event, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and liquidity could be adversely affected.

At December 31, 2019, we had remaining performance commitments as measured by remaining contract revenue totaling approximately $5.4 billion related to MSG’s contracts, and this amount is likely to increase if the number of bases served by MSG increases. The presence of these commitments may adversely affect our financial condition and make it more difficult for us to secure financing on attractive terms.

Our Market-Based Businesses’ operations under MSG are subject to various risks associated with doing business with the U.S. government.

MSG enters into contracts with the U.S. government for the operation and maintenance of water and wastewater systems, which contracts may be terminated, in whole or in part, prior to the end of the 50-year term for convenience of the U.S. government or as a result of default or non-performance by the subsidiary performing the contract. In addition, the contract price for each of these military contracts is typically subject to either an annual economic price adjustment, or a redetermination two years after commencement of operations and every three years thereafter. Annual economic price adjustment is an inflation index-based contract price increase mechanism. Price redetermination is a contract mechanism to periodically adjust the service fee in the next period to reflect changes in contract obligations and anticipated market conditions. Any early contract termination or unfavorable annual economic price adjustment or price redetermination could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Moreover, entering into contracts with the U.S. government subjects us to a number of operational and compliance risks, including dependence on the level of government spending and compliance with and changes in governmental procurement and security regulations. We are subject to potential government investigations of our business practices and compliance with government procurement and security regulations, which are complex, and compliance with these regulations can be expensive and burdensome. If we were charged with wrongdoing as a result of an investigation, we could be suspended or barred from bidding on or receiving awards of new contracts with the U.S. government or our existing contracts could be terminated, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

The Company’s properties consist primarily of (i) water and wastewater treatment plants, (ii) mains and pipes used for transmission, distribution and collection of water and wastewater, (iii) wells and other sources of water supply, such as reservoirs, (iv) water and wastewater pumping stations, (v) meters and fire hydrants, (vi) general structures, including buildings, dams and treated water storage facilities, (vii) land and easements, (viii) vehicles, (ix) software rights, and (x) other equipment and facilities, the majority of which are used directly in the operation of its systems. Substantially all of the Company’s properties are owned by its subsidiaries, with a large percentage subject to liens of its mortgage bonds. A wholly owned subsidiary of parent company owns the Company’s corporate headquarters, located in Camden, New Jersey, and it leases office space, equipment and furniture from certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries. These properties are utilized by the Company’s directors, officers and staff in the conduct of the business.

The properties of the Company’s Regulated Businesses consist mainly of approximately:

• 80 surface water treatment plants;

• 520 groundwater treatment plants;

• 140 wastewater treatment plants;

• 52,500 miles of transmission, distribution and collection mains and pipes;

• 1,000 groundwater wells;

• 1,500 water and wastewater pumping stations;

• 1,300 treated water storage facilities; and

• 76 dams.

The Company has ongoing infrastructure renewal programs in all states in which its Regulated Businesses operate. These programs consist of both the rehabilitation of existing mains and equipment, and the replacement of mains and equipment that have been damaged or have reached, or are near, the end of their useful service lives. The properties of its Market-Based Businesses consist mainly of office furniture and IT equipment. Approximately 51% of all properties that the Company owns are located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Company maintains property insurance against loss or damage to its properties by fire or other perils, subject to certain exceptions. For insured losses, the Company is self-insured to the extent that any losses are within the policy deductible or exceed the amount of insurance maintained.

The Company believes that its properties are generally maintained in good operating condition and in accordance with current standards of good water and wastewater industry practice.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Alternative Water Supply in Lieu of Carmel River Diversions

Compliance with SWRCB Orders to Reduce Carmel River Diversions

Under the 2009 Order, Cal Am is required, among other things, to decrease significantly its yearly diversions of water from the Carmel River according to a set reduction schedule. The 2009 Order responded to claims that Cal Am had not sufficiently implemented actions to terminate its unpermitted diversions of water from the Carmel River as required by a 1995 order of the SWRCB. In July 2016, at the request of Cal Am and several Monterey County government agencies, the SWRCB issued the 2016 Order approving the 2021 Deadline.

The 2009 Order includes a condition prohibiting Cal Am from diverting water from the Carmel River for new service connections or for any increased use of water at existing service addresses resulting from a change in zoning or use. In 2011, the California Public Utilities Commission (the “CPUC”) issued a decision directing modifications in Cal Am’s tariffs to recognize the moratorium mandated by the 2009 Order, and directing Cal Am to seek written guidance from the SWRCB with respect to any unresolved issues of interpretation or implementation of this condition. In 2012, the Deputy Director of the SWRCB sent a letter to Cal Am providing an interpretation as to the calculation of a baseline to determine increases in use of water at existing service addresses. In March 2018, the MPWMD adopted a resolution directing Cal Am to interpret the baseline in a manner that conflicts with the SWRCB’s written interpretation. In May 2018, Cal Am notified the MPWMD and the SWRCB that it intends to seek declaratory relief concerning the conflicting regulatory interpretations under the 2009 Order. In an attempt to resolve these conflicting interpretations prior to seeking judicial intervention, Cal Am has met with the MPWMD and the SWRCB several times. The SWRCB agreed to circulate revisions to its 2012 interpretive letter, which would be subject to a public comment period. Any failure to follow the MPWMD’s resolution or the SWRCB’s written interpretation, despite these conflicting interpretations, could potentially result in fines, penalties and other actions against Cal Am.

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The 2016 Order provides that if the CPUC authorizes Cal Am to acquire more than 1,000 acre-feet per year of water from a source other than the Water Supply Project, proponents of the alternative water source could submit revised milestones to the SWRCB for consideration. In May 2018, certain parties to the Water Supply Project proceeding submitted a petition to the SWRCB to add parallel milestones to the 2009 Order for 2019, 2020, and 2021, based on the proposed expansion of the Pure Water Monterey project, another groundwater replenishment project under construction on the Monterey peninsula. Petitioners claim that compliance with the alternate milestones would still provide for cessation of Cal Am’s unauthorized diversions from the Carmel River by 2021. A preliminary report on feasibility concluded that the expanded Pure Water Monterey project could provide an additional 2,250 acre-feet of water per year. Cal Am believes that (i) the petition is premature, (ii) the expanded Pure Water Monterey project is not yet a sufficiently certain or reliable water supply and, even if construction is successfully completed, would provide an insufficient quantity of water to allow full compliance with the 2009 Order, and (iii) the imposition of parallel milestones would distract from completion of the Water Supply Project. On December 13, 2019, the SWRCB dismissed the petition without prejudice.

Cal Am continues to work constructively with all appropriate agencies to provide necessary information in connection with obtaining required approvals for the Water Supply Project. However, based on the matters discussed below in “Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project,” there can be no assurance that the Water Supply Project in its current configuration will be completed on a timely basis, if ever. Due to the delay in the approval schedule, Cal Am currently does not believe that it will be able to fully comply with the diversion reduction requirements and other remaining requirements under the 2009 Order and the 2016 Order, including the 2021 Deadline. The CPUC’s final decision approving the Water Supply Project permits recovery of all of Cal Am’s prudently incurred costs associated therewith, subject to the frameworks set forth in the final decision related to cost caps, O&M costs, financing, ratemaking and contingency matters.  Cal Am currently believes that its expenditures to date have been prudent and necessary to comply with the 2009 Order and the 2016 Order.  Further attempts to comply with the 2009 Order and the 2016 Order, or the 2021 Deadline, may result in material additional costs or obligations to Cal Am, and failure to comply could lead to fines and penalties against Cal Am.

Regional Desalination Project Litigation

Review of CPUC-Approved Settlement Agreement

The Regional Desalination Project (the “RDP”) involved the construction of a desalination facility in the City of Marina, north of Monterey. The RDP was intended to, among other things, eliminate unauthorized diversions from the Carmel River as required under the 2009 Order. In December 2010, the CPUC approved the RDP, which was to be implemented through a Water Purchase Agreement and ancillary agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”) among the Marina Coast Water District (“MCWD”), the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (“MCWRA”) and Cal Am. In 2011, due to a conflict of interest concerning a former member of MCWRA’s Board of Directors, MCWRA stated that the Agreements were void, and, as a result, Cal Am terminated the Agreements. In April 2015, the CPUC approved a settlement agreement among Cal Am, MCWRA and the County of Monterey to resolve these matters among the parties signing the agreement. In March 2016, the Supreme Court of California granted MCWD’s petition for review of the CPUC approval, and following the court’s disposition of a related issue in another case, MCWD’s petition for review of the CPUC-approved settlement agreement was remanded to the CPUC. On September 19, 2019, the CPUC issued a decision affirming its prior decisions with respect to the settlement agreement that resolved matters among the parties thereto associated with the termination of the RDP agreements, after considering the issue remanded by the California Supreme Court.

Cal Am’s Action for Damages Following RDP Termination

In October 2012, Cal Am filed a Complaint for Declaratory Relief against MCWRA and MCWD, which was ultimately transferred to the San Francisco County Superior Court, seeking a determination as to whether the Agreements are void as a result of the alleged conflict of interest. In June 2015, the court entered a final judgment agreeing with Cal Am’s position that four of the five Agreements are void, and one, the credit line agreement, is not void. In November 2016, the Supreme Court of California denied MCWD’s final appeal of this judgment, which allows further proceedings, discussed below, to determine the amount of damages that may be awarded in the proceeding.

In July 2015, Cal Am and MCWRA filed a Complaint in San Francisco County Superior Court against MCWD and RMC Water and Environment (“RMC”), a private engineering consulting firm which has since been acquired by a national engineering, science and operations company, seeking to recover compensatory damages in excess of $10 million associated with the failure of the RDP, as well as punitive and treble damages, statutory penalties and attorneys’ fees. Shortly thereafter, complaints seeking similar damages were filed in the same court by MCWD and RMC against Cal Am and MCWRA in excess of $19 million in the aggregate. In December 2015, the court consolidated all of these complaints into a single action. On February 15, 2019, the court granted Cal Am’s motion for summary judgment, and as a result, no claims remain pending against Cal Am in this action. On February 25, 2019, the court granted RMC’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as to certain of Cal Am’s tort claims against it. On June 20, 2019, the court granted MCWD’s motion for summary judgment related to Cal Am’s tort claims against MCWD, which Cal Am appealed to the California Court of Appeal, and on January 14, 2020, this appeal was denied. On January 17, 2019, a motion filed by MCWD for summary judgment against Cal Am relating to the contract claims in Cal Am’s complaint was denied.

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Trial in this lawsuit had been scheduled to take place in January 2020. On January 27, 2020, the parties to this lawsuit reached a tentative agreement, which was entered into the court record and would resolve the litigation in part without trial. Under the terms of this tentative agreement, MCWD and RMC would pay Cal Am an aggregate of $5.2 million in settlement of Cal Am’s contract claims against MCWD and all claims against RMC relating to the RDP. Under this agreement, Cal Am’s and MCWRA’s right to appeal the dismissal of their tort claims against MCWD would be expressly reserved. A draft settlement agreement is being reviewed and negotiated by the parties. Once executed, the settlement agreement would be subject to approval of the San Francisco County Superior Court.

Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project

CPUC Final Approval of Water Supply Project

Cal Am’s ability to move forward on the Water Supply Project is and has been subject to extensive administrative review by the CPUC and other government agencies, obtaining necessary permits, and intervention from other parties. In September 2016, the CPUC unanimously approved a decision to authorize Cal Am to enter into a water purchase agreement for the GWR Project and to construct a pipeline and pump station facilities and recover up to $50 million in associated costs, subject to meeting certain criteria. If construction costs exceed $50 million, Cal Am would be allowed to seek additional cost recovery.

In September 2018, the CPUC unanimously adopted a final decision finding that (i) the Water Supply Project, based on Cal Am’s request for a 6.4 million gallons per day desalination plant, meets the CPUC’s requirements for a CPCN, (ii) the issuance of the final decision should not be delayed, and (iii) an additional procedural phase was not necessary to consider alternative projects. The CPUC’s decision directs Cal Am to enter into negotiations regarding expansion of the GWR Project between Monterey One Water and the MPWMD and to indicate whether Cal Am plans to file an application for approval of an agreement to purchase additional water from the GWR Project. The decision notes, however, that the CPUC will only consider such an application if the Water Supply Project is delayed such that Cal Am would not be able to meet the 2021 Deadline. The decision accepts Cal Am’s estimates of future water demand in Monterey and concludes that the Water Supply Project is the best project to address those needs, and adopts Cal Am’s most recent cost estimates. The decision also allows Cal Am to earn an allowance for funds used during construction, or AFUDC, at a rate representative of its actual financing costs. The final decision adopted frameworks as to cost caps, O&M costs, financing, ratemaking and contingency matters.

In addition, the CPUC final decision imposes numerous reporting and filing requirements to ensure the expenditures for the Water Supply Project are reasonable, including that the financing is the lowest cost and most beneficial for ratepayers, and that construction is progressing in a timely manner and within the authorized cost caps. The reasonableness of Water Supply Project costs will be reviewed in the first general rate case filed by Cal Am after the Water Supply Project becomes operational. Cal Am is also required to implement mitigation measures to avoid, minimize or offset significant environmental impacts from the construction and operation of the Water Supply Project and comply with a mitigation monitoring and reporting program, a reimbursement agreement for CPUC costs associated with that program, and reporting requirements on plant operations following placement of the Water Supply Project in service.

In February 2019, the City of Marina and MCWD filed petitions for writ of review before the Supreme Court of California challenging the sufficiency of the final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement adopted by the CPUC in September 2018, which the court declined to consider on August 28, 2019.

On July 2, 2019, Cal Am notified MPWMD and Monterey One Water (collectively, the “Agencies”) that an event of default occurred under the water purchase agreement for the GWR Project because the Agencies failed to deliver to Cal Am by July 1, 2019 advanced treated recycled water produced by the GWR Project. Under the water purchase agreement, upon the occurrence of this event of default, Cal Am had the right to terminate the water purchase agreement immediately. Cal Am has elected not to exercise its right to terminate the water purchase agreement at this time, but in its notification to the Agencies, Cal Am expressly reserved its right to terminate the water purchase agreement until such time as the Agencies commence their required delivery of water from the GWR Project. On July 16, 2019, MPWMD and Monterey One Water responded to Cal Am’s event of default notice and estimated that water delivery would begin by mid-October 2019. On December 12, 2019, Cal Am sent a letter to the Agencies requesting a status update with respect to the event of default. On January 2, 2020, Cal Am notified the Agencies that a second event of default occurred under the water purchase agreement because the Agencies failed to achieve the Performance Start Date (the date upon which MPWMD’s performance obligations under the water purchase agreement were to commence) by January 1, 2020. Under the water purchase agreement, upon the occurrence of this event of default, Cal Am had the right to terminate the water purchase agreement immediately. Cal Am has elected not to exercise its right to terminate the water purchase agreement at this time, but in its notification to the Agencies, Cal Am expressly reserved its right to terminate the water purchase agreement until such time as the Performance Start Date has occurred. On January 9, 2020, the Agencies responded to Cal Am’s December 12, 2019 and January 2, 2020 letters. In the response, the Agencies acknowledged they remain in default under the water purchase agreement but indicated that corrective action is being taken to attain the Performance Start Date in the near future.

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On April 17, 2019, Water Ratepayers Association of the Monterey Peninsula (“WRAMP”), a citizens’ advocacy group, filed an amended complaint in Monterey County Superior Court asserting a “qui tam” claim under the California False Claims Act on behalf of itself and the State of California against Cal Am and certain environmental consultants who worked on the CPUC’s environmental analysis of the MPWSP. The State Attorney General declined to proceed with this action after it was originally filed in 2016. On July 10, 2019, defendants filed a joint demurrer challenging the legal sufficiency of the allegations of the amended complaint. At an August 27, 2019 hearing on the demurrer, the court dismissed the petition without leave to amend. On October 17, 2019, WRAMP filed motions seeking clarification and a reconsideration of the court’s ruling. A hearing on these motions was set for December 3, 2019, but on November 26, 2019, WRAMP abandoned its motions and instead filed an appeal of the court’s dismissal. This appeal remains pending.

Coastal Development Permit Application

In June 2018, Cal Am submitted a coastal development permit application to the City of Marina for those project components of the Water Supply Project located within the City of Marina’s coastal zone. Members of the City’s Planning Commission, as well as City councilpersons, have publicly expressed opposition to the Water Supply Project. On March 7, 2019, the City of Marina Planning Commission adopted a resolution denying Cal Am’s coastal development permit application. Cal Am appealed the Marina Planning Commission's decision to the City Council, which set a public hearing on the appeal for April 30, 2019. On April 25, 2019, Cal Am submitted a letter to the City challenging the impartiality of the City and three of its council members with respect to the Water Supply Project. On April 29, 2019, the City informed Cal Am that it intended to proceed with the hearing with the participation of the challenged City Council members. As a result, on April 29, 2019, Cal Am notified the City that it was withdrawing its appeal, as Cal Am believes it could not receive a fair and impartial hearing before the City Council.

On May 10, 2019, the City issued a notice of final local action based upon the Marina Planning Commission’s decision. On May 22, 2019, Cal Am appealed this decision to the California Coastal Commission (the “Coastal Commission”), as permitted under the City’s code and the California Coastal Act. On October 28, 2019, staff of the Coastal Commission issued a report recommending a denial of Cal Am’s application for a coastal development permit with respect to the Water Supply Project, largely based on a memorandum prepared by the general manager of the MPWMD that contradicted findings made by the CPUC in its final decision approving the Water Supply Project. Staffs of the CPUC and the Coastal Commission met to discuss the Coastal Commission’s staff recommendation, at which time the CPUC raised questions about the Coastal Commission staff’s findings on water supply and demand, groundwater impacts and other matters. On November 4, 2019, Coastal Commission staff released an addendum to the staff report, concluding that additional groundwater modeling was needed before staff could find that the Water Supply Project would not prevent depletion of groundwater supplies. At its November 14, 2019 hearing on both the appeal from the City of Marina’s denial and Cal Am’s application for a coastal development permit within the Coastal Commission’s original jurisdiction, Coastal Commission staff advised that no vote would be taken at the meeting and that further investigation was required in light of the CPUC staff’s questions. The hearing was continued to a later date. On January 28, 2020, Coastal Commission staff recommended to Cal Am that it withdraw its application for a coastal development permit within the Coastal Commission’s original jurisdiction and resubmit such application at a later date, as the staff believes that its additional investigation could not be completed in time for a vote on Cal Am’s existing application. The staff indicated that such a withdrawal would not affect Cal Am’s appeal of the City of Marin’s denial, which would remain pending. Cal Am has declined to withdraw its application, and instead, on February 12, 2020, Cal Am and the Coastal Commission entered into a stipulation extending by 90 days, to July 24, 2020, the deadline for the Coastal Commission to vote on Cal Am’s original jurisdiction application.

Desalination Plant Development Permit

The proposed desalination plant for the Water Supply Project is to be located in an unincorporated portion of Monterey County, California on a site owned by CEMEX, Inc. (“CEMEX”), and requires a combined development permit from the County of Monterey prior to commencement of construction. On April 24, 2019, the County’s Planning Commission voted to approve the permit. On July 15, 2019, the Board of Supervisors heard appeals filed by MCWD and a public advocacy group, at which time it denied the appeals and approved the permit. On August 21, 2019, MCWD filed a petition in Monterey County Superior Court challenging Monterey County’s approval of Cal Am’s combined development permit application and seeking injunctive relief to enjoin Monterey County and Cal Am from commencing construction of the desalination plant. On October 9, 2019, after a hearing, the court denied, without prejudice, MCWD’s motion for a preliminary injunction, but issued a stay of the County’s approval of the combined development permit, precluding commencement of physical construction of the desalination plant until November 19, 2019, at which time the parties were to advise the court of the Coastal Commission’s decision on Cal Am’s application for a coastal development permit for the slant wells needed to source water for the desalination plant. In the interim, Cal Am is allowed to continue to obtain permits needed for the desalination plant’s construction. On November 19, 2019, the parties informed the court that the Coastal Commission had continued its public hearing on the slant wells and had not yet made a determination about permitting the slant wells. In response, the court continued its stay until March 24, 2020.

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Proposed Zoning Changes at CEMEX Site for Slant Wells

In August 2018, the City circulated a public review draft of proposed amendments to its local coastal program and zoning ordinance, and placed the matter for consideration on the Planning Commission’s agenda for its September 2018 meeting. The proposed amendments would change zoning at the CEMEX site to open space and restrict future uses, including with respect to Cal Am’s planned use of the site for the slant wells for the Water Supply Project. Any change to the City's local coastal program must ultimately be approved by the Coastal Commission. Cal Am, CEMEX and the Coastal Commission each submitted letters opposing the proposed amendments. At its November 2018 meeting, the Planning Commission adopted a resolution recommending that the Marina City Council consider approving the amendments.

In December 2018, the Marina City Council considered the proposed amendments. Cal Am, CEMEX and the Coastal Commission again submitted letters opposing the proposed changes, but the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution amending its local coastal plan and a draft amendment to its zoning ordinance. Changes to the ordinance require a second reading before becoming final, which occurred at the City’s December 2018 meeting. The changes to the local coastal plan must be submitted to the Coastal Commission for approval and are not effective until such approval is obtained.

Test Slant Well Permitting

A preliminary step to building the Water Supply Project desalination plant is the construction and operation of a test slant well to confirm the suitability of the property on which intake wells will be located to draw water from under Monterey Bay. In November 2014, the Coastal Commission approved coastal development permits for the test slant well, enabling Cal Am to construct and operate the test slant well. Because Cal Am may use the test slant well as one of the slant wells for the Water Supply Project, Cal Am sought and obtained from the Coastal Commission permit amendments to allow the test slant well to remain in place and be maintained until February 28, 2020. On November 27, 2019, Cal Am filed an application with the Coastal Commission for a permit amendment to allow the test slant well to remain in place and be maintained until February 28, 2021. A required lease obtained from the California State Lands Commission, as amended, will expire on December 16, 2022. Effective February 28, 2018, test slant well pumping ceased, except for minimal maintenance pumping activities, in accordance with Cal Am’s coastal development permits.

In November 2015, MCWD filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate and Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in Santa Cruz County Superior Court against the Coastal Commission and Cal Am challenging the amendment of the coastal development permits and seeking an injunction against further test well pumping. In orders issued in September 2016 and October 2017, the court denied MCWD’s challenges. In January 2018, MCWD filed a notice of appeal of the court’s judgment. On June 28, 2019, the California Court of Appeal dismissed MCWD’s appeal. On July 15, 2019, MCWD filed a petition for rehearing with the Court of Appeal, which was denied on July 19, 2019. This decision is now final.

Water Supply Project Land Acquisition and Slant Well Site Use

In July 2017, the Coastal Commission adopted a consent agreement and cease and desist order requiring sand mining operations on the property owned by CEMEX on which intake wells for the Water Supply