Chris Gosses Photography
While Rob Burton is relatively new to his position as Kentucky American Water Company president, having assumed the role in March 2025, he brings deep industry experience. Burton, a Madisonville, Kentucky native, has more than a three-decade career in the water and wastewater industry, nearly half of which he spent in various capacities with American Water, the parent company of Kentucky American Water.
American Water is a wholly owned company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.
Before coming to Lexington, Burton served as president of West Virginia American Water, where he oversaw water and wastewater operations for some 610,000 residents across more than 310 communities.
Earlier in his career, Burton served as senior director of operations for Pennsylvania American Water and worked in American Water’s Military Services Operations, managing water and wastewater services for the Department of Defense on 18 military installations across the country and supervising more than 200 employees. Later, he was director of operations for its entire footprint.
Kentucky American Water is dealing with several overlapping challenges that are common to many U.S. water utility companies, but especially visible these days in Kentucky. Burton spoke to Business Lexington about some of those challenges.
Kentucky American Water has requested rate increases to cover more than $212 million in recent system upgrades, including replacing aging infrastructure. What do you say to customers who feel they are being asked to pay more every year?
Kentucky is like a lot of the country now, meaning the water and wastewater infrastructure are not in the best shape. The report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives water systems around the country a C-minus grade and wastewater systems a D grade. The systems we own and operate are in much better shape but still require continuous investment or they will degrade and not provide safe, reliable service.
We must also upgrade after new government regulations are in place. We must recover those costs, and the only way to do that is to file rate cases with the Public Service Commission.
Meanwhile, we are extremely focused on affordability. We do not have the lowest water rates in the state but by no means do we have the highest. We fall into the middle. We offer help to customers who need assistance or more time to pay their bills. On our website and through social media, we inform customers about these grant programs and budget billing plans.
How do you mitigate issues such as water leaks and emergency repairs?
Any time an individual has a problem at their own residence and they call us for help or there is a leak on a nearby main street, we have crews either working or on call 24/7 to respond. We are resilient and proud of that.
We can draw from multiple water sources and treatment facilities to make sure our entire system maintains service to our customers. We collaborate with customers who may have had a hidden leak that they were responsible for but were not aware of until they got a bill and wonder why it is so high. We can make a leak adjustment on their bill and be fair about it.
How do you manage regulatory and environmental compliance brought on by stronger federal EPA drinking water standards, especially when contaminants like lead and “forever chemicals” are involved?
We are absolutely committed to safe drinking water. In Kentucky, we have nearly 200 professionals whose daily job is to monitor our water systems and treatment facilities, take samples and evaluate them for safety in real time.
We have in-line instruments that check the water continuously. We upgrade facilities to meet stricter regulatory requirements. There is a major push across the country for a plan and pathway to remove lead service lines from drinking water systems. Every system nationwide is having to do this.
Kentucky American is checking daily to see where there might still be service lines that are either lead or galvanized pipe material. We also collaborate directly with customers to identify problems like that in their service lines.
Burton joined recently joined regulators and industry peers at the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Annual Education Conference in Biloxi, Miss.
Central Kentucky’s population is growing and putting greater demand on your water systems. How does Kentucky American plan for and manage these future needs?
We are monitoring day-to-day water usage and collaborating with our local communities to plan for their growth.
We frequently create comprehensive planning studies that include population projections and the needs of residential, commercial and industrial sectors. We use this information to develop capital plans, and that rolls into our rate cases with the PSC.
Soon after taking over last year, you ordered Kentucky American Water Company to provide emergency-response efforts during severe flooding in Eastern Kentucky. Some of those areas are not in the company’s normal service area. How did that go?
We partnered with our charitable foundation to make some direct donations and investments in the hardest hit areas. We also sent crews to assist water utilities in Pike and Letcher counties.
We helped with storm recovery and water system support and make repairs and get people back their service. We went to help, but normally, we do not go that far into Eastern Kentucky. Most of the systems there are operated by municipalities or are water service districts set up by counties.
Natural disasters hit our state and seem to occur more frequently. Planning helps us to oversee localized flooding that affects water plants or even when we have droughts, like we have had this year.