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CITY OF MARICOPA RENEWS PARTNERSHIP WITH GLOBAL WATER TO ADVANCE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

^{Published on 2011-06-24 04:10:46 - Market Wire}
 

PHOENIX, AZ, June 24, 2011 /CNW/ - GWR Global Water Resources Corp. (TSX:GWR) and Global Water Resources, Inc. ("Global Water") today announced that Global Water and the City of Maricopa (the "City") have entered into an amended and restated Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") to renew their public-private-partnership first approved by the City Council in December 2005.

The City and Global Water have joined together to advance economic development by updating the terms of their agreement, which now include a renewed commitment by Global Water to continue investments into the City.  Such investments will be in the form of new infrastructure, community improvements and permitting activities to increase the number of "shovel ready" properties within the City as well as implementation of Global Water's FATHOM^TM GIS platform for use by the City and other local organizations.  In turn, the City will allow Global Water to direct its quarterly license agreement fees to help offset a portion of Global Water's multi-million dollar investment.

Additionally, the City passed a resolution which supports Global Water's infrastructure coordination and financing agreements and provides a regulatory pathway to fund the costs for new growth and economic development.  The MOU also calls for a process to minimize large, one-time rate increases and mitigate the financial impact on customers.

Anthony Smith, the City's Mayor, said, "This is a win-win for the City and Global Water.  Shovel ready water and wastewater infrastructure is vitally important to attracting growth and business to the City, and we have renewed this partnership to catalyze that growth."

Global Water's investment in infrastructure will help ready a number of premium development sites in the City and provide the means to instantly assess the infrastructure readiness of every development site in the City's inventory.  Ensuring these sites are ready as development begins again is a critical aspect of the partnership and will position the City to capture opportunities as they arise.

Trevor Hill, President of Global Water, said, "We continue to benefit from our long-standing relationship with the City of Maricopa. By working closely together with the City we can assure a means of achieving our mutual economic development objectives while maximizing the value that FATHOM^TM brings to our partnership."

About Global Water
GWR Global Water Resources Corp. owns an approximate 48.1% interest in Global Water.  Global Water is a leading water resource management and technology company that owns and operates 14 water, wastewater and recycled water utilities, and provides data and water management services through its unique, award winning platform, FATHOM^TM Utility-to-Utility (U₂U™) Solutions.  Initially developed by Global Water to support and optimize its own utilities, FATHOM^TM is an integrated suite of advanced technologies proven to increase revenue, decrease costs and bring heightened efficiencies to municipally-owned utilities. FATHOM^TM puts water management tools in customers' hands.