It is predicted that the changes that will occur in the next 50 years will exceed the changes that have happened in the last 500 years. Some of the changes will be directly related to technology, but others will be centered on policy and societal changes. Utility managers will not only have more key decisions to make, but will be required to have additional skills to cause those decisions to be implemented. In the past, utility managers’ major decisions played a large role in the funding and implementation of large municipal and public works projects. Today, the same managers are being required to make capital and policy decisions in a new political, competitive, and participatory environment. One decision or non-decision to be made by some utility managers in the near future will play a major role in the determination of the direction of municipal utility management for the future. That decision is how privatization/contract operations will be addressed by your utility.