Case Study

Water Utility Service

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Opportunity

With growing concerns about affordability, infrastructure, and climate resilience, city leaders needed a representative snapshot of customer sentiment to inform budget decisions, maintenance planning, and public outreach efforts. In the spring of 2025, the City of Bellingham recruited DHM to help them better understand how residents perceive their water utility services, including drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and Lake Whatcom watershed prevention.

Approach

DHM conducted a mixed-mode survey of 400 residential utility customers, offered in the top five non-English languages spoken in Bellingham. Questions explored satisfaction levels, awareness of services provided, importance and performance of key service attributes, future priorities, and preferred communication methods. Data revealed distinct desires for city investments and support, as well as residents’ top priorities, offering clear directions for aligning utility services with community values and needs. In the spring of 2027, DHM will send out another survey to benchmark results and detect any shifts in attitude.

Results

The City of Bellingham is now armed with a roadmap of high-priority opportunities to enhance affordability and infrastructure. The insights uncovered by DHM will help city leaders align future investments with community input and ensure equitable service delivery across neighborhoods.

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