From engineering to executive: How Kishia L. Powell is transforming WSSC Water

Equity and environmental justice

It’s common for water utility CEOs to talk about the need for resilience. About the need to modernise infrastructure through digitalisation. Also, the need to balance affordability with allocating limited budgets to much-needed rehabilitation works.

One area that doesn’t often come up, publicly, is equity and environmental justice. One example of this would be wastewater treatment plants, often out of sight and mind, located in disadvantaged communities. It’s rare to see one in a wealthy and leafy suburban area.

For Kishia L. Powell, the General Manager and CEO of WSSC Water, addressing this topic has become one of many signatures of her leadership over the years.

We have to make sure that those facilities being there does not keep those communities from being able to thrive economically, socially or otherwise

“It's not happenstance, in some cases, that wastewater facilities end up in communities that are not well resourced, have been historically underserved and historically disadvantaged,” she says. “Where other communities don't want those facilities, we have to make sure that those facilities being there does not keep those communities from being able to thrive economically, socially or otherwise.”

Located just outside Washington DC, WSSC Water, established in 1918, serves 1.9 million residents across Prince George's and Montgomery counties in Maryland. It maintains over 11,000 miles of drinking water and sewer pipeline across a 1,000-square-mile service area. Since its time in operation, the utility has boasted a track record of operations without a single drinking water quality violation.

A five-utility track record

Powell took over in January 2023, with WSSC Water being her fifth utility. Baltimore-born, raised and educated, she was appointed Bureau Head of Water and Wastewater for the City of Baltimore in 2008, her first public-sector role. From there, she became Director of Public Works for the City of Jackson, Mississippi, a remit that extended beyond water and wastewater to roads, bridges and solid waste.

In 2016, she was appointed Commissioner of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management, where she led the department into the inaugural class of the Leading Utilities of the World (LUOW) network at the Global Water Summit in Madrid in April 2017. In May 2020, during the pandemic, she joined DC Water as Chief Operating Officer.

Before her US public-sector roles, the CEO also had international experience, including in London. In 2006, she worked for UK consulting firm, AMEC, designing flood mitigation solutions for Thames Water. At the time, this was during the asset management period (AMP) 4. To give some perspective, we’re now in AMP 8 (2025-2030).

“London has become somewhat of a second home for me,” she says. The original plan, she admits, had been Spain. “I thought better of trying to overcome a language barrier and practice engineering in another country at the same time.”

Engineering as a technical foundation 

A registered Professional Engineer, Powell has a degree in civil engineering from Morgan State University. The technical background, she argues, remains important while running a utility.

“I have always approached the role with an understanding that it is very much necessary to have a good, strong foundation in the work itself,” she says. “I have found that it has been a benefit to be an engineer.”

The engineering approach, she argues, needs to be augmented with three elements: an understanding of utility finance, a working knowledge of the regulatory environment, and the ability to communicate. It is the last of these she returns to most often.

I never want to over-commit, and I always say we want to under promise and over-deliver

“Many times, you find that people in the room will look to you to make sense of things or to provide certain assurances,” she says. “I never want to over-commit, and I always say we want to under promise and over-deliver.”

That discipline is tested, she says, when it comes to defending rates. “It's important to help customers understand that we are not for-profit utilities, that we are cost recovery organisations. The money that they pay for their bill really helps the utility invest in the infrastructure and deliver the service.”

The billion-dollar question

One of the hot topics at the moment is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. WSSC Water has been testing for the so-called ‘forever chemicals’ since January 2020, well in advance of any federal requirement. Powell says current drinking water data sit comfortably below regulatory thresholds, yet the team has detected periodic spikes and is now investigating sources in the watershed.

The US Environmental Protection Agency's April 2024 final rule set Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) of four parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA and PFOS, with an original compliance deadline of April 2029. In May 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed regulation to allow water systems to seek an exemption to the MCL compliance deadlines for two additional years (to 2031). The proposed extension is expected to be finalised this year.

Powell's concern is less about the deadline than the bill and who pays. It is a polluter-pays argument WSSC Water has been making publicly for some time, and one EPA itself has now adopted in its rhetoric around the rule revision.

“The estimates for WSSC Water to make improvements for PFAS treatment for drinking water are close to a billion dollars,” she says.

A lab that pays for itself

In October 2025, WSSC Water celebrated the grand opening of its newly expanded, technologically advanced  $38 million water quality laboratory in Silver Spring. The move nearly doubled the facility's workspace from 27,000 square feet to more than 46,000 square feet and added a dedicated on-site PFAS testing section that the utility claims helps to cut turnaround times from weeks to hours.

Built to LEED Gold standards, the second-highest tier of the globally recognised green building certification, the lab runs more than 500,000 water quality tests a year. By 2045, this figure is projected to reach 750,000. In an entrepreneurial move, Powell wants the lab to pay for itself by offering PFAS testing services to other utilities.

We can save money on PFAS testing and also offer that service to other utilities that may need it

“We decided to include a way for us to test for PFAS ourselves in our expansion, so that we can save money on PFAS testing and also offer that service to other utilities that may need it,” adds the CEO. “We’re always trying to identify ways that we can monetise investments and develop alternative sources of revenue.”

This utility service offering from WSSC Water is expected to be operational within the year. By generating additional revenue from the testing service, it’s an innovative play, especially when other utilities are still deliberating the best financial solutions to what is becoming one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time.

Smart One Water and Operation True North

The PFAS response sits inside a broader strategic agenda, WSSC Water calls Smart One Water, a framework that combines smart water technologies and innovation. The current three-year strategic plan, FY 2025-2027, is branded internally as ‘Our North Star’.

Looking much further ahead, by 2050, the utility's stated ambition is to reach Net Zero. Powell has recast that into four areas where she expects “sustained and transformative change”, that includes: workplace and workforce; infrastructure; innovation and technology; and service. The last is now getting a dedicated initiative, called ‘Operation True North’. Launched in May, it will start by taking the customer service team offline for two days to redesign processes and close service-level gaps.

“We are starting with our customer service team, and we're actually closing for two days to be intentional about redefining the processes,” adds the CEO. “The hope is that when we reopen, our customers will see a marked difference in the customer experience.”

Open for business

Powell is candid about the need to bring in international technological expertise, particularly those who can help WSSC Water lower its operating costs. Advising international technology companies looking across the US, she says: “Reach out to procurement  provide capability statements and information on what services you can provide. I would encourage those who are looking to do business in the US and specifically with us to really understand our strategic plan, our strategies, our focus, how we choose to serve as an anchor institution.”

We're going to lead with our values

For Powell, the job ahead is a challenging one, especially in the current geopolitical and economically challenging times. Yet, she believes water utilities should be seen as anchor institutions, a framing that is more than just branding and a slogan, it’s an operating logic that connects the 100+ years of successful operation.

“We're going to lead with our values,” she says. “We’re going to lead with being an anchor institution.”

 

The interview is part of a utility CEO series between LUOW and Aquatech Global Events. Previous interviews include:

“We want to build something like Ube” – Adam Saffian Ghazali on transforming a future-ready water utility

Breaking water siloes in California and beyond – Joone Kim-Lopez