These aren't marketing quotes. These are real words from real operators — the people running water plants, reading meters, and keeping systems alive in small towns across the country. This is what they said about their work, their problems, and what changed.
Most of the utilities we work with started the same way — paper maps, binders in a truck, and one person who had the whole system memorized. Here’s what they said about life before Ziptility.
“I replaced the guy that had paper and pencil drawn utility maps. And that’s what I have. There’s some that have measurements, there’s some that don’t. There’s some that are on the maps, there’s some that I’ve found that he never knew was there.” — Andrew Hanna, Whitewater KS
“I’m actually really excited about this because it gets us away from paper sheets which eventually just get filed somewhere and never looked at again.” — Garrison Myer, High Knob
“I like the system and I want to just use it. I want to get away from the paper if we can.” — Anne Moffitt, Pittsfield
Buried meters, missing valves, manholes covered by roads — every operator has a story about infrastructure they couldn’t find.
“Sometimes it is a scavenger hunt and sometimes we go to check a meter and we can’t even find the damn thing.” — Chelsea Vialpando, Candlewood Park
“I uncovered a manhole two weeks ago that nobody had seen — it had been covered up by the road. Guy said he’d lived in the house 14 years and never knew it was there.” — A.H., Whitewater KS
“I take a snapshot photo, I have the GPS coordinates, and then in the app, I’ll put it down. It’s like, all right, it’s six feet from curb, nine feet from the driveway, and it’s been working super well.” — Brandon Belair, SCWA
Every utility has one or two people who carry the whole system in their heads. When they retire, that knowledge walks out the door.
“We’re at the mercy of one or two men. We have a line break and we don’t even know where the valves are at. If we can get these two old hands to tell us where these valves are at and we get them mapped out, that’s going to help us.” — Mike, LBC Utility District
“I think that would make me the happiest, knowing that they don’t have to go through what I went through to figure it out.” — Ron, Western Hills Water District
“We are shifting culturally, shifting our processes for the future. We do have a lot of institutional knowledge that will be leaving relatively soon.” — Nick Vigliotte, Payson AZ
We don’t do fancy demos. We just show people their own town on a map and let them drop a pin on something they know. Here’s what happened.
“The state regulators were thrilled. He’s gonna love it. Because most communities just don’t have this.” — Samuel Cushman, Bingen WA
“Just like how clean everything is. It’s simple, and clean is my thing. It reminds me of how Apple runs their stuff. Anybody can figure it out.” — Nick, North Dearborn Water
“Marcus, I’m amazed at how easy it is to edit. I can’t believe how fast and easy it is for me to edit information.” — Derrick Holloway, Rochester Water
“Take a picture, add it. Boom. So then when the customer says there’s no way, you can pull it up and go, well, here’s proof.” — skeith, Veolia
Small utilities move fast when they need to. They notice when a vendor keeps up.
“That speaks volumes. You guys moved quick.” — Terry Brown, Butler Rural Water 5
“She taught me how to do it yesterday. And then, sure enough, in the middle of the night, we had a main break, so I was out, and I used it.” — Jason Molino, LCWSA
“I would love to sort of go out and toot the horn a little bit about how we were able to find a thing that was able to customize and provide stuff that the big kid on the block was unable to do without a lot of headaches.” — David Wyman, Lexington
A lot of utilities have tried software before. It didn’t stick. They’re honest about why.
“We don’t use any kind of a work order system per se, but there’s been a couple of things that tried to come in and work for us, and at the end of the day, it just didn’t work.” — Lyndon Kern, Iola KS
“It’s a lot easier to use than the ArcGIS system. That ArcGIS is more like computer engineering type of program where you had to know where to go, where to find stuff and how to do it, whereas this one I kind of click and play with it, figure it out.” — Curtis, Antwerp
“It hasn’t turned out as I’d hoped so far.” — Darrel Hawes, Stevens PUD, on CityWorks
We’ll show you your own town on a map, drop a pin on something you know, and let you take it from there. Takes about 45 minutes to get started.
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