… Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines a small water system as serving fewer than 3,300 people (with “very small” systems serving fewer 500), many of the systems undergoing a consolidation serve only a couple hundred residents. At such a small scale, maintaining a water system is prohibitively expensive – and smaller communities often lack the technical capability and staffing to install and adequately maintain the infrastructure. Consolidation aims to create economies of scale for the participating systems, which can help ensure a better quality, more sustainable water supply for all community members. … Remarkably, of the 78 systems that responded, 100% of them reported that their consolidation was a success, and 82% indicated their motivations for pursuing consolidation were fully addressed.