Developing Your Source Water Protection Program Effectively safeguarding drinking water sources will ensure that your community has reliable access to affordable, potable water for generations to come. As such, utilities of all sizes should strive to develop and implement a source water protection program. Not only do these programs reduce the need to adopt costly advanced treatment processes, but their value extends environmentally, socially, and through public health as well. By maintaining water quality at the source, systems protect a fundamental barrier under the multiple barrier approach. Furthermore, a protection program has potential to not only maintain, but improve water quality. Developing and enforcing a source water protection plan will act as a proactive defense against contamination introduced from various land uses such as agriculture, commercial facilities, landfills, mining, oil and gas operations, stormwater runoff, failing septic systems, and more. A plan can also act to mitigate impacts from climate changes such as drought or saltwater intrusion. To start a program, systems can break down the process into six steps: Delineating your source water protection area Inventory sources of potential contamination Assess susceptibility of your system to these contaminants Notify and engage the public about these contaminant threats Develop and implement a protection plan to reduce, prevent, or eliminate threat Develop contingency planning strategies if source water is compromised Of course, some of these steps are easier said than done. To assist in your source water protection endeavors, we’ve highlighted several resources to get you started. If you expect challenges along the way, consider contacting your regional Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) partner for support. Before developing a plan, review your source water protection area and any existing contaminant sources identified by your state’s Source Water Protection Assessment Program (SWAP). Under the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, state programs were required to identify the land area that could impact water quality at each public water system. In addition, each state program completed an inventory of potential contamination sources in that area, evaluated water quality susceptibility to that contamination source, and made these results publicly available under SWAP. States completed the source water assessments in 2002, but were not required to maintain updates. To locate the results of your assessment, start with the EPA’s Source Water Regional Contacts or contact your state’s source water protection program. The methods in which source water protection areas were identified and evaluated depend on the state. Many states published resources on how they chose to carry out the SWAP as demonstrated in the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s SWAP document. For updated or more local source water delineations and contaminant source inventories, public water systems can reach out to local environmental consulting firms, federal agencies like the NRCS or USGS, state cooperative extensions, and local colleges. The EPA has also developed a How-To Manual to Update and Enhance Your Local Source Water Protection Assessments that describes why and how you should collect more data. With the state SWAP results and the EPA’s How-To manual, utilities can complete the first three steps in developing a protection program. Making the public aware of these results will allow systems to start collaborating with local organizations on source water protection efforts. By engaging local stakeholders such as the town officials, environmental groups, watershed organizations, farmers, businesses, town’s conservation commission, county extension, non-profits, etc. systems will better understand any existing source water protection strategies, who is conducting them, and how the facility’s present and future strategies can collaborate with existing strategies. Based on data gathered from the source water delineation, assessment, and susceptibility evaluation, utilities can work with local stakeholders to develop a protection and contingency plan. While protection plans are optional in many states, utilities should first check with their state’s source water protection program to determine if a plan is mandatory and, if so, what elements must be included. The ease of which a utility implements their protection plan will depend on source water location, contaminant threats, financial and technical resources, and the degree of community involvement. To develop the plan, public water systems will need to identify management strategies and the funding to facilitate the plan. A strong source water protection plan will have clearly defined goals with a list measurable actions and those who are responsible for them. Most plans should also include a timeline to measure progress, requirements for water quality monitoring, and a plan to track the successful completion of measurable actions. The goals outlined in the plan will ultimately address the water quality risks identified in the assessment through land use controls, land acquisition, and education. The scope of the plan may range in focus from local, regional, or statewide involvement. Check out the 2019 Roswell Municipal Water System plan to view an example of a medium-sized system’s source water protection program. To help develop a plan of your own, we’d like to recommend the following: Guides: The Source Water Stewardship: A Guide to Protecting and Restoring Your Drinking Water The Clean Water Fund The handbook walks public water systems through the process of understanding an assessment, reaching out to stakeholders, and designing an action plan. New Mexico Source Water and Wellhead Protection Toolkit New Mexico Environment Department This toolkit will help public water systems develop a source water protection program in six steps.> Templates: Drinking Water Source Protection Plan Template (Systems Serving <5,000 people) Ohio Environmental Protection Agency This template can be used by Ohio or other public water systems to outline a successful source water protection program. Instructions should be deleted from the Word document upon completion. Source Water Protection Plan Template Tennessee Association of Utility Districts This Microsoft Word template can be used as a starting point for developing your source water protection plan. Source Water/Wellhead Assessment & Protection Program Planning Guide South Dakota Department of Environmental and Natural Resources This 10-page guide describes the sections that should be included in a source water protection plan. Notification Templates: Wellhead Letter to Potential Contaminant Sites Tennessee Association of Utility Districts Use this letter template to request assistance and cooperation in implementing your source water protection program. Wellhead Letter to County Mayor and Zoning Board Tennessee Association of Utility Districts This letter template can be used to request assistance and cooperation from the county mayor and zoning board in the development and implementation of a source water protection plan. Developing an effective source water protection plan will take time and collaboration. For more resources on protection plans, check out our document library and use the category filter to filter by Source Water/Source Water Protection. January 27, 2020 By Jill Wallitschek Source Water Protection source water protection plan, source water protection program, featured document, source water protection, SWAP, SWPP 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Video: Wastewater Treatment Process Control Testing This week’s featured video was produced by the Athens Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant serves a small town of approximately 1,050 people in West Virginia. In an effort to educate their small town and others across the country, Athens WWTP has developed a series of videos. In this particular recording, the plant will demonstrate several process control tests they use to evaluate their wastewater conditions. You’ll learn how Athens performs a settleometer test and monitors pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, oxygen reduction potential, mixed liquor suspended solids, and volatile suspended solids. Tests likes these are valuable for troubleshooting the dynamic environment of wastewater treatment processes and meeting regulatory compliance. As such, it’s important for sampling to be performed accurately, consistently, and in a location that is representative of the wastewater quality as a whole. The types of tests you perform, the number of samples taken, and the laboratory methods used to analyze these samples will depend on your system’s treatment type, chemical usage, equipment, and raw water quality. Results from the analysis will promote process optimization. A detailed copy of your facility’s sampling and testing procedures should be accessible in the utility Operations and Maintenance Manual for reference. To provide more information on process monitoring, we’d also like to recommend: How to Utilize Your Lab Data to Optimize Process Control – Kim Riddell Wastewater Laboratory Basics – Illinois Water Environment Association Activated Sludge Process Control and Troubleshooting Chart Methodology – Ohio EPA Activated Sludge Process Control – Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Wastewater Sampling – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency November 29, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Small System O&M, Wastewater featured document, process control, process monitoring, wastewater sampling 0 0 Comment Read More »
Resources to Complete Your Risk & Resilience Assessment and Emergency Response Plan Drinking water utilities should be aware of the risk and resilience assessment (RRA) and emergency response plan (ERP) requirements mandated by section 2013 of the America’s Water and Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018. Under section 2013, community water systems (CWS) serving populations of 3,300 people or more are required to perform a risk assessment using the results to develop or update their ERP. The due date to certify the completion of these requirements is dependent on the population served by the system. If a CWS provides water to a consecutive system, they must include the population of the consecutive system in the total population served. *After submitting the RRA, the ERP must be submitted and certified within six months. Community water systems will be required to review and revise, as necessary, their RRA and ERP every five years after the initial certification dates. These new AWIA requirements amend section 1433 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), originally created from the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. The Act focused on incidents of terrorism and required CWS’s serving more than 3,300 people to conduct a vulnerability assessment (VA) and develop an ERP. The new AWIA requirements place an emphasis on the risks of malevolent acts, natural disasters, and cybersecurity. Since the vulnerability assessments from the Bioterrorism Act are now more than 10 years old, AWIA approved the destruction of these assessments. Utilities that want their VA returned instead can submit a request letter to the EPA before the due date of their risk assessment. To assist in meeting the new requirements, the EPA has developed several resources designed specifically for AWIA. Resources and tools are uploaded on this EPA web page as they become available. The risk and resilience assessment is the first requirement due under section 2013 and necessary to develop your ERP. The assessment must include six criteria. Following the assessment, the ERP must include four criteria in addition to any state requirements. In this blog we will provide information about these AWIA resources in addition to other documents that can be useful to complete your RRA and ERP. EPA's AWIA Resources: Resiliency and Risk Assessment: Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool (VSAT) 2.0 U.S. EPA This downloadable tool was updated to help utilities conduct risk and resilience assessments under AWIA. The tool can estimate risks from malevolent threats and natural hazards while evaluating potential improvement strategies. Baseline Information on Malevolent Acts for Community Water Systems U.S. EPA AWIA requires that the RRA addresses risks to ‘malevolent acts’. The EPA provides baseline information on malevolent acts and how to assess their potential threats in this 51-page guide. Emergency Response Plans: Community Water System Emergency Response Plan U.S. EPA This 13-page document includes a emergency response plan template with instructions developed to assist systems in meeting the ERP requirements under AWIA. Other Helpful Resources to Get Started: Resiliency and Risk Assessment: CREAT Risk Assessment U.S. EPA CREAT is a risk assessment tool to help utilities to adapt to extreme weather events. New users will be required to fill out a registration form. While your account is processing, check out a more preliminary EPA climate adaptation tool, the Resilient Strategies Guide for Water Utilities. Reference Guide for Asset Management Inventory and Risk Analysis Southwest Environmental Finance Center This 9-page guide acts as a starting point to inventory assets and consider potential failure risks. The table suggests the information that should be collected while taking an inventory of assets. Financial Planning: A Guide for Water and Wastewater Systems Rural Community Assistance Corporation Utilities need to include a financial infrastructure assessment in their RRA. The 59-page guidebook provides a process for developing and monitoring a utility budget, evaluating rates, and developing a 5-year financial plan. Simplified Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Drinking Water Kansas Department of Health and Environment In this 24-page guide systems will learn about risk minimization, the probability of asset threats, consequences of threats, and threat deterrents. Emergency Response Plans: Flood Emergency Action Procedures: Preparation Guide for Small Communities Midwest Assistance Program The 50-page document provides a flood preparedness planning methodology for small rural communities. 15 Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Water and Wastewater Utilities Water ISAC This updated 56-page guide explains the best practices water utilities can use to reduce security risks to their IT and OT systems. To certify the completion of your RRA or ERP, the EPA has developed guidelines for certification submittals via their secure online portal, email, or mail. If your system needs any additional help to meet these requirements, the EPA will be hosting in-person and online training sessions for each region. If these document suggestions don’t meet your system needs, check out our document library to find a variety of resources on risk assessment and emergency response. September 13, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Asset Management, Emergency Response, Regulations resilience, awia, emergency response plan, erp, featured document, risk assessment 0 0 Comment Read More »
Developing an Asset Management Program Asset management is a critical component to the short and long-term success of every water and wastewater utility regardless of size or system type. When a system understands the condition of its assets, in addition to present and future projected needs, the utility can make informed decisions about infrastructure operations, management, and investments. These decisions will minimize expenditures, equipment failures, and risk to public health while promoting reliability, resiliency, compliance, and customer satisfaction. Asset management moves utilities from reactive to proactive decision making and allows systems to get the most out of what they have. If your facility has never developed an asset management plan or it’s been quite some time since you’ve last revised your plan, we’ve highlighted our favorite resources to get you back on track. A well-developed plan includes asset inventories, operation and maintenance tasks, emergency response and contingency planning, comprehensive financial plans, succession planning, and an understanding of current and future service level goals. Without addressing the technical, managerial, and financial management of your system, your plan will be incomplete. So without further ado, here’s our favorite resources to help you improve your understanding of asset management and develop your own program. What is Asset Management? Successfully Protecting Your Investment in Drinking Water Infrastructure: Best Practices from Communities & Local Experts U.S. EPA and USDA This 12-page guide explains how asset management can improve system reliability, cost efficiency, and customer communication. Strategies for developing a plan and case studies that highlight solutions to asset management challenges are included in the document. Learn more: U.S. EPA Asset Management Resources for States and Small Drinking Water Systems AWWA Asset Management Definitions Guidebook American Water Works Association In this 33-page guidebook, systems can clarify common terminology used by asset management professionals and asset management program guides. Learn more: AWWA Asset Management A.M Kan Work! An Asset Management and Energy Efficiency Manual Southwest Environmental Finance Center A.M Kan Work Is a digital asset management manual that uses videos and texts to teach systems how to develop their own program based on their five core components of asset management. Learn more: SW EFC Asset Management Effective Utility Management: A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities Water Effective Utility Management (EUM) This 60-page guide identifies 10 key attributes of an effectively managed utility that should be considered in your asset management plan. The Primer teaches utilities to self-assess operations and make improvements. An interactive primer is available to assist in self-assessment. Learn more: Water EUM Resources Developing an Asset Management Plan Asset Management: A Handbook for Small Water Systems U.S. EPA This asset management STEP Guide Series will teach water systems how to inventory, prioritize assets, and develop long-term maintenance plans. Learn more: Asset Management Resources Check-Up Program for Small Systems (CUPSS) U.S. EPA CUPSS is a desktop application (Windows-only) based on the EPA’s STEP guide series that will help utilities record assets, schedule required tasks, assess their financial practices, and develop and asset management plan. Learn more: Building the Capacity of Drinking Water Systems Asset Management Guidance for Water Systems and Wastewater Utilities Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy This Excel workbook can be filled out as utilities acquire data for their asset management program. The pre-made tables make it easy to know what information to record during the planning process. Learn more: EGLE Forms and Guidance Writing Your Plan Asset Management Program – Small Community Guidance Ohio Environmental Protection Agency The state of Ohio requires all public water systems to maintain a written asset management program. This 22-page guide describes what should be included in a small community asset management plan to increase technical, managerial, and financial capacity. The link below includes Ohio template plans for non-community systems and small systems. Learn more: Public Water Systems (PWS) – Asset Management A Guide to Asset Management for Small Water Systems Georgia Association of water Professionals This 19-page guide describes what to include in a strategic asset management plan and how to implement a program. Learn more: Georgia Association of Water Professionals Technical Resources Additional Help: Asset Assessment, Financial Planning, and Program Review Taking Stock of Your Water System U.S. EPA Use this 38-page guide to understand the elements of an asset inventory and perform a simple inventory using the worksheets provided. The document includes how to prioritize assets and integrate the inventory results into a budget and asset management plan. Learn more: U.S. EPA Asset Management Resources for States and Small Drinking Water Systems The Basics of Financial Management for Small-Community Utilities Rural Community Assistance Partnership This 44-page guidebook describes how to manage utility finances through cost planning, budgeting, record keeping, and financial oversight. Learn more: RCAC Guidebooks Effective Utility Management Benchmarking Tool The Water Research Foundation This download is designed to help systems evaluate their current management program based on the 10 key utility management attributes that were identified in the EUM Primer report listed above. Learn more: Water Research Foundation Asset Management Resources Asset Management IQ Southwest Environmental Finance Center Use this online tool to establish a baseline for your system’s current asset management practices. Return to the test over time to monitor and measure system progress. Learn more: Asset Management Developing a new plan can seem like an intimidating project, however utilities will ultimately improve their services and decision making capacity while saving time, resources, and money. If your system needs help developing or assessing a program, check out the EPA’s list of technical and financial assistance providers or contact WaterOperator.org to have help finding a provider. The EPA maintains a list of capacity development contacts that can answer any questions about specific requirements of your primacy agency. To find additional information on asset management, visit our resource library. You can use the category filter to narrow down your search by topics in asset management, financial management, utility management, and more. Our library can also be filtered by resource type such as manuals, videos, or templates. The other filter options can refine your results to a specific host organization or state. Check out our tutorial to use the library to the best of its capabilities. August 28, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Asset Management, Capacity Development, Financial Management, Utility Management amp, asset management, asset management plan, asset management program, featured document 0 0 Comment Read More »
An EPA Guide for Climate Resiliency Planning Many utilities are developing plans to increase short-term and long-term climate resiliency in response to extreme weather events, changing water availability, or the risk and resiliency assessment requirements set forth in the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA). To assist in the early developmental stages of resiliency planning, the EPA's CRWU program designed the Resilient Strategies Guide for Water Utilities. This online application prompts utilities with a series of questions about their system and its resiliency concerns to provide recommend strategies that will decrease vulnerability. This web application was updated in August 2019 to allow utilities to specify their system size and find funding sources for the projects they want to pursue. Both water and wastewater systems can use the tool. The foundation of the guide is built using the CRWU Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change and a funding list maintained by the Water Finance Clearinghouse. Completing the guide takes roughly 20 minutes. After answering a series of questions that identify your system type, size, location, assets, preferred resiliency strategies, and funding interests, the application will produce a report that can be used as a starting point to develop a more complex plan. Once the guide is launched, you will start by answering questions about your facility and its resiliency priorities. The priorities indicate the concerns that your system wants to address. You can filter the list of priorities in the left hand menu to narrow your focus to topics such as drought preparation, flood protection, energy efficiency, etc. The ‘More Info’ button will elaborate on any option you're considering. Once you’ve selected your priorities, you’ll indicate what assets are present within your system. From there you can select your preferred planning strategies that have been suggested based on your previous answers. Filter the strategies with the left hand menu to narrow down your options by cost or category. For example, if you want to exclude strategies that require new construction, you could check the ‘repair & retrofit’ category instead. The last section recommends potential funding sources that might assist with the strategies you've selected earlier. The strategies and funding sources will be used to generate the final report. Continue to the end and select ‘Generate Report’. This report will include a detailed summary of your answers, contact information for any funding sources you've selected, and case studies relevant to your utility. To save a copy of the report you will have to copy and paste the results into a Word document. If you have a CREAT account, you can select ‘Export CREAT File’ to download a file that can be imported into your CREAT account’s existing analysis. CREAT (Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool) is a more in-depth risk assessment and planning tool that can be used once you've done your initial research. You can preview the CREAT tool framework with their guide here. August 23, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Emergency Response, Funding, Internet, Sustainability featured document, resiliency, resiliency planning, risk assessment, vulnerability 0 0 Comment Read More »
Developing & Implementing a Cost Effective Water Utility Safety Program Even with advances in smart water technology, any supervisor knows that a utility can't run without its dedicated staff. While workers take care of equipment operations, maintenance, billing, or customer service, it's the responsibility of the person in charge to ensure these duties are being carried out in a safe environment using appropriate precautions. Water and wastewater utilities have a history of experiencing occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities (IIF) at a higher rate than most other occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Incidence Rates - Detailed Industry Level table from each year’s Industry Injury and Illness Data Summary Tables has generally supported this trend. Their reports show the average non-fatal incident rate for the water and sewage industry has historically been higher than the industry average as a whole. The data from this table was taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Incidence Rates- Detailed Industry Level for 2008 and 2017. (Click table to enlarge.) The table above shows the rate of non-fatal injuries reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2008 and 2017. While any year can have variability, in 2008 the non-fatal injury incident rate was much higher than the industry average. In 2017 you can see that the average number of injuries has decreased since 2008 and is now closer to the industry average. These values don’t include the number of fatal injuries experienced by the water and wastewater industry, but as an overall trend, non-fatal injury reports to the Bureau of Labor Statistics support that the water industry has improved since the early and late 2000’s. Types of Injuries As utilities continue to prioritize and promote a safe work culture, we hope to reduce the frequency of incidents even further. There are many hazards that pose a risk to operator safety. The most frequent non-fatal water and wastewater injuries reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2017 were due to over exertion during lifting, being struck by a tool or object, and falls, slips, and trips. Water and wastewater utilities also have to manage the risks posed by confined spaces, electrical equipment, trenching, road safety, ladders, hazardous chemicals, blood borne pathogens, and more. Safety Costs According to Bureau Veritas’ presentation at the 2008 CSWEA Maintenance and Safety Seminar, the financial costs for water and wastewater injuries can be quite expensive. Budgeting for a good safety program will protect your employees and incur less expenses than the direct and indirect costs that result from a poor safety program. Developing and Implementing a Safety Program Since every system faces different hazards, your safety plan should be specific to your system hazards. To get started, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends seven core elements for your system’s safety program: management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification and assessment, hazard prevention and control, education and training, program evaluation and improvement, and communication and coordination for host employers, contractors, and staffing agencies. OSHA’s Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs website provides an explanation of these elements in addition to a list of helpful tools, case studies, additional resources, and a download for the recommended practices guide. We also encourage you to check out the Water Research Foundation’s Water Utility Safety and Health report to review safety program best practices and cost evaluations for various proactive and reactive programs. Once you’ve done your research, West Virginia Rural Association has developed an Injury and Illness Prevention Program template that systems can expand from. Water System Specific Hazards As you continue to promote safety in the work place remember that complacency is the adversary to injury and accident prevention. More specific guidelines for electrical safety, traffic control, hazardous material communication, competent persons, confined space, chemical handling, chlorine exposure, fires, and waterborne disease can be found in Chapter 8 of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Intro to Small Water Systems Correspondence Course. The OSHAcademy also offers a variety of water and wastewater specific safety training. If you have a different safety question, more resources are available at WaterOperator.org’s document library or under our blog post category Operator Safety. August 16, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Operator Safety injuries, featured document, finances, osha, safety 0 0 Comment Read More »
Data Protection and Cybersecurity for Small and Medium Systems Many water utilities rely on online technology and computer systems to increase their working efficiency. In the office space, data management software, pay roll systems, customer billing programs, utility websites, and social media improve customer services and provide an organized method to retain and access utility information. On the operational side, employees may rely on remote access control systems such as SCADA or smart metering to monitor or control systems while performing maintenance in the field. These control systems allow for improved response times and monitoring. Yet as we all learned from Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. Without sufficient cybersecurity measures, systems risk the health and security of their customers. Successful attackers can steal customer personal data such as credit cards, social security numbers, and contact information. They may attempt to deface utility websites compromising customer confidence. If your system uses online process control systems, hackers could lock out utility access, alter treatment processes, damage equipment, and override alarms. The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has listed a variety of cyberattacks and their consequences in its 2018 Cybersecurity Risk & Responsibility in the Water Sector Report. These attacks resulted in leaked customer information, considerable financial losses, altered chemical dosing, and even source water contamination. Just recently staring in May of 2019 the City of Baltimore has been held hostage by an ongoing three week cyberattack that demands $100,000 in Bitcoin to free city files and water billing data. There are many types of cyberattacks including password hacking, the exploitation of software vulnerabilities, denial of service, and malware. Common malware includes ransomware, spyware, trojan horse, viruses, and key loggers. Attacks can even happen through opportunity theft, improper disposal of computer equipment, or phishing attempts where thieves pose as legitimate organizations requesting confidential information. To prevent cyberattacks, start by identifying vulnerabilities, developing a multi-tier security plan, and actively enforcing that plan. The EPA has developed a guide explaining 10 key components for a cybersecurity plan that includes planning worksheets and information on how to respond in the event of an attack. Systems should plan to update software regularly and require strong passwords that are different for each account. Installing anti-virus software and firewalls is also effective. A security plan should include measures to educate employees on cybersecurity awareness and limit access to security information based on job function. For an in-depth list of security practices, read through WaterISAC’s 2019 guide to reduce exploitable weaknesses or the EPA’s Incident Action Checklist. The AWWA’s guide on Process Control System Security Guidance for the Water Sector can aid systems using smart technology. To improve social media and website security, start with Hootsuite’s social media security tips and Sucuri’s website security tips. If a data breech does occur, utilities will want to have and established protocol to resolve and mitigate potential damage. The Cyber Security Adviser Program with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers regional affiliates that will assist systems in vulnerability assessments, plan development, and informational support. While the costs associated with response, forensics, and legal fees can be expensive, waiting to take action can incur an even greater cost. Remember to keep an active cybersecurity plan and, if incidents should occur, report them to local law enforcement, the DHS, and WaterISAC. June 7, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Emergency Response, Internet, Security cybersecurity, emergency response, emergency response plan, featured document, social media, websites 0 0 Comment Read More »
A Review of the EPA's New Drinking Water Training System The newest tool released by the EPA allows operators to learn about national primary drinking water regulations through an online and self-paced training system. According to the EPA, this system was developed at the request of states, water associations, and operators. Stakeholders wanted operators to have accessible regulatory training easily available to an industry where shrinking resources and a retiring workforce make taking time away from water facilities difficult. Approximately 130 training modules on various drinking water rules make up the system. The modules runs well in most browsers as long as Adobe Flash is installed and running. Both audio and closed captions are available during the training with the option to run the modules at your own pace. To use this system, each operator will have to create their own account using an email address that has not been registered prior. The system has a fairly easy setup. When an operator signs in, the homepage shows an Announcements section that will update users on new modules or changes to the system. Operators can design their own lesson plan for the regulations that apply to their system under the Curriculum Builder. The Builder asks questions about the system type, source water, and treatment methods. A new curriculum can be made and started at any time with each curriculum found under the Curriculum List. Usually 5-15 modules will make up a curriculum. Each module will cover a different rule with a quiz of 4-5 questions at the end. The operator must answer each question correctly to pass. If operators want to run through the modules individually they can find a list under the Course Catalog tab, however this mode does not offer quizzes or completion credit by the system. A complete list of training modules available as of May 2019 can be found here. An interesting feature to note about the training is that within each module slide includes the CFR citation number so operators can find the corresponding rule in the Code of Federal Regulations. It should also be noted that these topics cover federal regulations only and do not apply to states with stricter drinking water requirements. When a training has been completed, the Certificates tab will create a print out certificate of the desired curriculum. The only drawback for operators is that this training is not pre-approved for CEUs in any states as of yet. To provide credit, a state primacy will have to review each of the 130 modules. The next plans for this training system involves designing new modules on Special Drinking Water Topics. While these modules have yet to be developed, drinking water operators can look forward to those resources in the future! April 29, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Regulations drinking water, featured document, regulations, training 0 0 Comment Read More »
Tools and Resources for Workforce Planning Workforce planning is an essential step in any small system’s asset management plan. Just as your utility cannot run without functioning infrastructure, services will not continue in the absence of a talented, knowledgeable operator. Without developing and facilitating workforce development plans, you risk the short and long-term security of your system and your customer's health. That being said, workforce planning can often seem overwhelming. Many rural systems rely on just a few people to take on the many positions that keep a system running. If those employees left, much of their system knowledge would be lost with no one capable to take over. Yet the struggle to find and retain talent for small systems won’t get any easier without action. In this blog post, we’ll review helpful resources for small systems in succession planning, knowledge transfer, employee hiring and retention, and talent attraction. Succession planning can become considerably less overwhelming when you invest a small amount of time each day to increase your knowledge of workforce development. This white paper by the the New York Water Environment Association summarizes the resources needed for succession planning. To actually develop your own plan, this one hour webinar by the Environmental Finance Center covers how to write and implement a plan by evaluating your utility’s workforce condition, identifying critical positions, understanding employee life cycles, and facilitating leadership development plans. An important step identified in any succession plan involves implementing knowledge management techniques to retain critical employee institutional knowledge. An article from Kansas Rural Water Association’s The Kansas Life Line describes how employees can make small changes to their day to create digital workflow records that can be easily found by future employees. The EPA has also developed a knowledge retention tool operators can use to consolidate utility information onto one document. Among the challenges associated with discovering new talent, managers must also learn better practices for recruiting and retaining new employees. The Environmental Finance Center has written a useful blog that describes how to hire utility staff through online job networks and how to retain those employees through performance evaluations. For a more in-depth resource on talent recruitment and retention, the Water Research Foundation partnered with the EPA to publish research findings on operator and engineer recruitment strategies. Chapter five lists the strategies developed from their research. For a video geared more toward small systems, check out the Environmental Finance Center’s one hour webinar on recruiting new staff. To recruit and retain employees, managers will have to understand generational differences. While these differences can seem daunting, an Environmental Finance Center blog points out that many other generations in their twenties were labeled with a similar stigma. The article debunks many misconceptions about millennials. When it comes to any age group, utilities find that a lack of awareness about the profession makes hiring new talent in the water sector difficult. Though many states, local governments, colleges, and water organizations are working to draw interest to this career path, small water utilities can also participate. The Work in Water program at Wichita State teaches utilities how to engage schools and develop internships while offering mini-grants to cover program costs. If you’re interested in developing your own internship program, you can also check out the internship guidebook developed by Baywork for their own program. In addition utilities can work with their local Rural Water Association’s apprenticeship program to take on apprentices. Military veterans are another group utilities can recruit since they already possess a series of practical professional skills. The American Water Works Association has created a 12 page guide that provides veteran recruiting tips Every workforce development plan is unique. With these resources, it's left up to you and your facility to determine what methods will best achieve the goals set for your community. April 15, 2019 By Jill Wallitschek Workforce succession planning, featured document, knowledge transfer, recruiting, retaining, talent attraction, workforce development 0 0 Comment Read More »
What's New in our Document Library: Fall 2018 Every day, staff members at WaterOperator.org search the internet to find events, resources and tools that have the potential to make a water operator's job easier and more effective. Here is a selection of our most recently-entered resources of interest to small system operators. Have we missed anything especially helpful recently? Let us know! Biosolids Comparison of Options for Biosolids Dewatering (slide presentation, ORWEF) Cyanobacteria/Harmful Algal Blooms Cyanobacteria and Public Water Systems (guidance manual, MassDEP) Emergency Response Santa Rosa: Response and Recovery from 2017 Fires (slide presentation, ACWA) Disaster Management for Water Utilities - What is Your Emergency Response Plan (slide presentation, Iowa Rural Water Association) Guidance for Building Field Capabilities to Respond to Drinking Water Contamination (guidance manual, US EPA) Financial Management Water Cost of Production (spreadsheet, Iowa Rural Water Association) Inflow/Infiltration Newberg Inflow and Infiltration Study (slide presentation, ORWEF) Non-community Systems Small Water System Management Program Guide for Noncommunity Systems: An Operations and Management Tool for Owners of Nonresidential Water Systems (manual, WDOH) Safety Safety Issues in the Treatment Plant (slide presentation, NAWT) Sampling/Monitoring How to Develop a Sample Siting Plan (video, Alaska DEC) Test-Prep Resources Water Treatment and Distribution Operator Math Reference Sheet (factsheet, AWWA) Water Treatment and Distribution Operator Chemistry Reference Sheet (factsheet, AWWA) Wastewater Current Trends in Digester Mixing Technologies (slide presentation, ORWEF) Handling Flushable Wipes in Wastewater (slide presentation, RUSA/UCC/PNCWA) Water Security Enhanced Security Monitoring (video, USEPA) Wastewater Systems Security Vulnerability Assessment & Emergency Response Template (form/template, Minnesota Rural Wastewater) October 3, 2018 By Brenda Koenig Emergency Response, Operations and Maintenance, Operator Math, Small System O&M, Workforce documents, featured document, library, operator resources, resources, tools 0 0 Comment Read More »