Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this fact sheet that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as weather conditions, patterns or events, including drought or abnormally high rainfall, changes in general economic, business and financial market conditions, changes in laws, governmental regulations and policies, including environmental, health and water quality and public utility regulations and policies, the decisions of governmental and regulatory bodies, including decisions to raise or lower rates, the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rates, migration into or out of our service territories, our ability to obtain permits for expansion projects, changes in customer demand for, and patterns of use of, water, such as may result from conservation efforts, the availability of adequate and cost effective supplies of chemicals, electricity, fuel, water and other raw materials that are needed for our operations, our ability to successfully acquire and integrate water and wastewater systems that are complementary to our operations and the growth of our business, our ability to manage the expansion of our business, our ability to control operating expenses and to achieve efficiencies in our operations, access to sufficient capital on satisfactory terms, fluctuations in interest rates, restrictive covenants in or changes to the credit ratings on our current or future debt that could increase our financing costs or affect our ability to borrow, make payments on debt or pay dividends, changes in our credit rating, changes in capital requirements, the incurrence of impairment charges, difficulty in obtaining insurance at acceptable rates and on acceptable terms and conditions, ability to retain and attract qualified employees, cost overruns relating to improvements or the expansion of our operations, and civil disturbance or terrorist threats or acts or public apprehension about future disturbances or terrorist threats or acts. For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with American Water's business, please refer to American Water's SEC filings, including the information in Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in American Water's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.