Pipe Wars Did you know there's a battle going on under our feet? A recent New York Times article unearths the lobbying war between two powerful industries, plastic and iron, over the estimated $300 billion that local governments will spend on water and sewer pipes over the next decade. To be sure, pipe material selection can be a complex process. Piping material choices can be influenced by a whole host of factors such as geography, soil characteristics, flow capacity needed, system pressures and more. Some utilities use a single type of piping, while others may use a wide variety depending on specific sites and needs. Moreover, municipal and utility leaders must then navigate through budget constraints and marketing hype as manufacturers fight for a piece of the infrastructure pie. It is no wonder that operators may need more information before making piping decisions. This webinar video from the Water Research Foundation about the State of the Science of Plastic Pipe provides case studies of how different utilities choose piping materials. The researchers involved in this report found that one of the most important considerations when choosing piping material is overall life cycle cost. Don't forget that there may be unique considerations to include in the decision-making process. For example, last month Bruce Macler from USEPA Region 9 wrote to us to let us know that "an interesting outcome of the recent California wildfires was that plastic water & sewer lines melted in some areas." Who would have thought? Interested in a no-nonsense listing of pros and cons of available piping materials? Check out this article. January 1, 2018 By Brenda Koenig Asset Management, Capacity Development, Small System O&M asset management, distribution, distribution o & m, distribution operation & maintenance, distribution operation and maintenance, distribution systems, financial management, infrastructure, pipe replacement, pipes, piping, piping materials, service mains, water mains 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Video: Liquid Assets Even if you're not into New Years' resolutions, the turn of the year can be a great time to reflect on where you've been and where you're going. Though I don't really make New Years' resolutions, I do like to take this time to think about my goals and strategies for achieving them. Then instead of testing my willpower against a resolution, I can focus on taking a small step toward a goal or even just thanking the people who have helped me along the way. And while this is a great time for personal reflection, organizations can benefit from asking these questions as well. A lot of questions facing water utilities are raised in this week's video. It covers a surprising number of topics in just 27 minutes, including crumbling underground infrastructure, the political factors that keep water rates too low to cover needed repairs, and the experiences of small, rural Minnesota communities grappling with infrastructure and sourcewater protection issues. Each issue is presented briefly but thoughtfully, with plenty of input from the local politicians and city officials who had to deal with these problems directly. Though the video was originally created for a PBS station in Minnesota, both drinking water and wastewater utilities from around the country will find a lot to agree with and consider for their own utilities. For more on rate-setting for small utilities, check out the RCAP handbook Formulate Great Rates and the EFCN rate dashboards. December 29, 2017 By Cassia Smith Asset Management, Business Mindset, Public Education aging infrastructure, asset management, featured videos, public education, rural utilities, small utilities, water main breaks 0 0 Comment Read More »
EPA’s Arsenic Rule Results in Fewer Incidents of Cancer A recent New York Times article reports that the EPA’s revised rule on arsenic contamination in public drinking water systems has resulted in fewer lung, bladder and skin cancers. This finding, published last month in Lancet Public Health journal, is the result of a study that compared the urinary arsenic levels of over 14,000 people in 2003, before the new rule went into effect, to those in 2014, well after the rule had been fully implemented. The researchers found a 17 percent reduction in arsenic levels in this time period and they estimate that this reduction has resulted in 200-900 fewer lung and bladder cancers and 50 few skin cancers annually. This finding is reassuring to water systems that have spent time, money and effort on arsenic rule compliance – it is always good to know that regulations are truly making a difference in the lives of community members. It also highlights the importance of water systems, and especially those with groundwater sources, working with their local and state officials to determine the best way to test for arsenic and, if necessary, treat their water supply. And because two water systems with similar levels of arsenic in their source water often need two entirely different types of treatment technology, and because these technologies can be expensive, knowledge about arsenic compliance, treatment and funding sources is essential. Luckily, WaterOperator.org can help point you in the right direction when you choose "arsenic" as the category in our document database. A good first stop is also this EPA webpage which offers lots of resources and tools to operators, such as a rule summary and steps to take towards compliance. December 25, 2017 By Brenda Koenig Water Treatment arsenic, arsenic treatment, cancer, contamination, monitoring, public health, testing 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Video: Beyond the Drain Last week, we featured a kid-friendly video describing the water treatment process. This week's video from the Value of Water Coalition does the same thing, but for wastewater treatment. Kids are passionate about what they learn, and sometimes our smaller customers can be our biggest advocates. Get them started with these great videos! For past kid-friendly videos, see Freddy the Fish (stormwater quality) and Water and You (surface water treatment). December 22, 2017 By Cassia Smith Public Education consumer information, featured videos, public education 0 0 Comment Read More »
The Drive to Privatize: Who Wins, Who Loses When Towns Sell Their Water Infrastructure Make no mistake about it, small town utilities can represent a lucrative investment for private companies who are offering cash-strapped officials across the nation a way out of their water woes. A recent article in the Washington Post is taking a long look at how municipalities are dealing with urgently needed repairs to their water infrastructure, sometimes by offloading the burden to for-profit water companies. According to the article, investor-owned companies bought 48 water and sewer utilities in 2015, 53 systems in 2016, and 23 more through March of this year (figures from Bluefield Research). Yet the decision to sell can come at a great cost - literally. When a private company takes over a water system, decisions on rate increases are taken out of the hands of local officials and instead decided or monitored by a state utilities regulator. "What can initially seem like a great deal" says Bolingbrook, Illinois Mayor Roger Claar in this 2016 Better Government Association article, can turn quickly sour: “The reality is [these communities] get rate increases like they never imagined.” And there are other drawbacks as well. Ask the residents of Charlestown, Indiana who are currently in the crossfire of their town's controversial move to sell their water system to Indiana American Water Company, a deal which will significantly raise their water rates. A community group called NOW (No Outsourcing Water) is actively opposing the sale, and has filed a complaint with the state's utility regulatory commission, calling into question their mayor's motives. Indeed, loss of public accountability can be a result when towns sell utilities. With publically-owned systems, if public officials do not respond to public concerns about the water, they can be voted out of office in the next election cycle. But when a utility is sold, it no longer has to answer to voters for contamination problems, or for rate increases for that matter. In the meantime, the water system in Charlestown still suffers from excessive manganese which turns the water brown. Although the nation-wide percentage of privately-owned water utilities is still rather small (12%), 30-70% of water utilities in Indiana and 14 other states have gone private according to the Washington Post article. Why are so many of these towns then willing to sell? Well, for one, private water companies have the capital to invest in infrastructure and meeting water quality regulations. Simply stated, these companies are in a better position to fix problems created by a history of funding shortages. These water company acquisitions can free up towns to use their limited funds to hire and retain critical police/fire and other staff and make much-needed repairs to roads and more. So unless state and federal funding can keep up with the acute need for expensive water infrastructure improvements (which, according to this article, it hasn't - and in fact has been decreasing), there often is no place to turn for budget-crunched public officials looking to protect public health. But this is not happening across the board. While some small towns are considering selling, groups like Food & Water Watch are actually seeing a reversal of the private water trend especially among larger municipalities - They have compiled the water rates of the 500 largest community water systems in the country (the largest water rate survey of its kind in the country) and found that there is an ongoing nationwide trend toward public ownership of water systems. All the same, the key finding of this report is that of the 12% of water companies that do operate privately, most are located in small, rural communities. So who wins and who loses? Each situation is unique, and for many small towns, the answers do not come easily. December 18, 2017 By Brenda Koenig Asset Management asset management, financial management, privitization, public ownership 0 0 Comment Read More »
How are States Using Drinking Water Revolving Fund Set-Asides? Question: What do the following small system programs have in common? A small system electronic asset mapping project in Nevada Free consolidation assessments and facilitations in Texas New equipment to help with energy efficiency audits in Utah A licensed operator internship program in New Jersey Answer: They were all funded with Drinking Water State Revolving Fund set-asides. While there are many critical infrastructure needs the DWSRF program addresses across the nation, sometimes valuable non-infrastructure opportunities such as these can get lost in the shuffle. A new analysis from the EPA is helping shine a light on the wide variety of capacity-development projects funded via set-asides that have been implemented across the country. Taking a look at this analysis is particularly helpful if state-level decision-makers need ideas about how to use set-aside funding, or have questions about set-aside funding in general. Using data from state DWSRF plans and capacity development reports, the analysis can help answer these needs and questions. It shows that states are using set-aside funding in the following nine (9) areas: Training and Technical Assistance, Financial Management and Rate Studies, Source Water Protection, Program Implementation (Capacity Development), Water and Energy Efficiency, Partnerships, Data Management, and Emerging Contaminants. What is important to note here is that there is a large amount of flexibility inherent in the program, which is a great thing when you are looking for ways to support important capacity-building programs in your own backyard. What exactly is a set-aside fund? According to the EPA, set-asides are portion of each state's annual capitalization grant that support water system capacity, operator certification, source water protection, and training/technical assistance to PWSs. Set-aside funding cannot be used for water system infrastructure projects. Instead, the set-asides support "activities necessary to ensure safe and affordable drinking water by: (1) providing states with flexible tools to assist water systems with training, technical assistance and pre-construction activities; and (2) extending and enhancing the impact of DWSRF funding by ensuring that water systems have the technical, managerial and financial capacity to obtain a loan and to effectively maintain their resources." States can take up to approximately 31 percent of their capitalization grant for set-aside funding. Each state can develop its own funding balance between infrastructure and non-infrastruture DWSRF loans, and this balance can change year-to-year. Finally, states should review their Public Water Supply System Program priorities on a regular basis to determine the effectiveness of set-aside usage. Happy planning! December 18, 2017 By Brenda Koenig Asset Management, Capacity Development, Funding capacity development, drinking water state revolving fund, drinking water state revolving fund set-asides, dwsrf, dwsrf set-asides, financial management, operator training, set-asides, technical assistance 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Videos: Water and You: The Water Treatment Process Need to give a presentation at a school? Have a nephew or niece or a kid of your own who wants to understand what you do all day? Sure, operating a drinking water plant involves a lot of carefully-executed technical processes and meticulous monitoring. But sometimes you need to explain the fun, simple version of your job. This week's featured video can help. This 4-and-a-half minute video follows Splashy the water droplet from his home in a reservoir through a surface water treatment system. At the end, he's disinfected with ozone and ready to drink. If you have a surface water treatment plant, this could be a great way to introduce your younger customers to the work you do. For more water utility videos for young viewers, see our previous blog entry on Freddy the Fish. December 15, 2017 By Cassia Smith Public Education consumer information, featured videos, public education 0 0 Comment Read More »
Water Operator Salaries Depend Largely on Geographic Location Water operator salaries and wages depend largely on where operators live and work, according to statistics released by the US Department of Labor last year. And even when operators live in the same state or region, salaries can vary depending on if the operator works in or close to a major metropolitan area. Certainly according to these statistics, small town water operator salaries are not competing with those offered by larger metropolitan areas. While top salaries can approach the $70K - $90K range at some metropolitan utilities on the West Coast, top salaries in rural or non-metropolitan areas in the same areas are $10K- $20K less. And then there are larger regional differences as well. Top-paying states such as California, Connecticut, Nevada, Washington and Alaska all offer annual mean salaries over $50K while in many southern states (such as Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky) the average salary range is $25K - $40K. If you are interested in finding out where your state ranks, you can click here. Other interesting geographic statistics and trends can be found on this Data USA website and includes the area of the country with the highest concentration of water/wastewater operators (Arkansas!) as well as areas with the highest paying operator jobs. If you are interested in finding out detailed salary information for your specific state, including current and projected employment numbers, concentration data, area profiles and more, check out this informative site! December 11, 2017 By Brenda Koenig Workforce wages, geographic pay data, geographic salary data, operator pay rates, operator pay trends, operator salaries, pay rates, Salaries, workforce 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Video: NASA's SMAP: Mapping the Water Under Our Feet NASA's SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) satellite provides worldwide soil moisture readings every 2-3 days. This data is invaluable to scientists, engineers, and local decision makers alike, improving flood prediction and drought monitoring. To see some of the images it has produced in the past, go here. December 8, 2017 By Cassia Smith Source Water Protection, Sustainability featured videos, soil moisture, source water, water availability 0 0 Comment Read More »
Top 2017 Resources from WaterOperator.org's Bi-Weekly Newsletter 2017 was a great year for the WaterOperator.org newsletter team. We not only reached our 200th edition milestone this past fall, but we also were successful in connecting a significant number of water professionals with useful and relevant resources, resources that could be used on-the-spot to solve pressing issues, or help guide utility best practices, or help water decision-makers plan ahead for their communities. While many of the events, articles and resources featured in our newsletters garnered interest, here is a list of our most clicked-on resources of 2017. A Water Security Handbook: Planning for and Responding to Drinking Water Contamination Threats and Incidents, US EPA This document provides guidelines for utilities to plan for possible contamination incidents, including sampling, public health procedures, and recovery. At the Confluence of Nutrients, Pharmaceuticals and Sustainability: Emerging Issues in Wastewater Management, University of Michigan/Central States Water Environment Association This presentation discusses the effects of emerging contaminants on wastewater treatment and possible solutions. Sampling Guidance for Unknown Contaminants in Drinking Water, US EPA This document provides new guidance to first responders and drinking water utility operators on the collection, storage, and testing of potentially contaminated drinking water when the contaminant is unknown. Water Conservation Techniques For Small and Medium Water Systems, Florida Rural Water Association This paper provides thorough descriptions of water conservation measures that have been demonstrated to be effective for small water systems. The State of Public Water in the United States, Food & Water Watch A compilation of water rates of the 500 largest community water systems in the country (the largest water rate survey of its kind in the country). Emergency Disinfection of Small Water Systems, Washington State Department of Health Emergency, stop-gap measures to get water quickly to the public in a crisis situation. Did you use one these resources at your utility this year? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Do you have a favorite "go-to" resource to share? Again, we'd love to know! Our email is info@wateropertor.org , or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. December 4, 2017 By Brenda Koenig Emergency Response, Regulations, Small System O&M, Sustainability, Wastewater, Water Treatment, WaterOperator.org compliance, contamination, emerging contaminants, featured document, monitoring, newsletter, o & m, o and m, operation & maintenance, operation and maintenance, pharmaceuticals, regulations, resources, sampling, wastewater, wastewater management, water treatment, wateroperator.org 0 0 Comment Read More »