WaterOperator.org Blog

Featured Video: Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative

These past few weeks, our featured videos have highlighted the infrastructure needs and challenges of water utilities from several different angles: kids' PSAs, rural utilities' infrastructure improvement projects, and operational know-how for utility administrators. But maybe your community is past all that. Your community knows what your needs are. You've studied what other utilities in similar situations have done. Your utility's leaders all have a good grasp of what the problem is and how to fix it. What comes next?

There are a couple of different answers to that question, depending on your specific circumstances and the place where you live. You might need to contact a technical assistance provider or an engineer. You might need to apply for a grant. Depending on where you live, you may also benefit from joining a regional partnership. In Alaska, some rural communities have joined the Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC), which helps streamline and standardize billing and assists with infrastructure improvements. This week's video features brief interviews with communities that have benefited from this partnership. (Please note that the first 8 seconds of this video are a black screen. The video will begin after this brief pause.)

For more on regional partnerships, see our featured video on a regional partnership in the Southwest.

January 12, 2018 By Cassia Smith Asset Management, Business Mindset, Capacity Development, Tribal Systems Alaska, regional partnerships, tribal systems, tribal utilities, featured videos, utility management 0 0 Comment Read More »

Featured Video: TXWARN Tabletop Exercise

Most areas of the country will have to deal with a large-scale disaster at some point. Whether it's an earthquake, blizzard, hurricane, tornado outbreak, flooding, or large-scale drought, most regions are great places to live until they're really, really not. Water utilities play a vital role in disaster scenarios, whether they're ensuring the delivery of clean, safe drinking water or safely removing and treating wastewater. Unfortunately, just because these services are vital doesn't mean they'll remain unaffected in a disaster scenario. In 2005, the experiences of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina drove home just how vital utilities are to the disaster response process. However, many utilities are not used to their role as emergency responders, and may not have a plan in place if their services were needed in the event of a disaster.

One way to plan for a disaster before you're in the midst of it is to participate in a tabletop exercise. In a tabletop exercise, the major players in a disaster event---police, fire, utilities, mayor, emergency response coordinator---all sit down together and consider step-by-step how they'd respond to a specific disaster if it hit their hometown. It helps to be specific: What if the tornado hit the water tower on the way into town? What if the main road through town was blocked with debris? What if there was a power outage? Specific questions like these can help you think about your resources and emergency planning in more detail.

One very detailed introduction to disaster response tabletop exercises begins with today's video. In 2011, the state-level disaster response agencies for the state of Texas met with TXWARN and tried to plan a response to a fake hurricane, as described to them by facilitators from the consulting group Horsley Witten. The exercise begins with the "hurricane" still out at sea while the agencies at the table think through how they would need to plan depending on where the hurricane makes landfull. It progresses through landfall and widespread rain and storms, and concludes with the participants talking about the exercise and identifying things they could change or improve to plan for a real emergency. This first video is an hour and a half long, and the entire run of the exercise comes to a little over 6 hours of video. But even watching selections from the videos will give you an idea of what kinds of problems and solutions might be worth considering for your own utility's disaster planning.

Watch the PT 1 TXWARN TABLE TOP video from Texas AWWA with this link.

You can also find the remaining exercises here:

Tabletop Exercise Part 2

Tabletop Exercise Part 3

Tabletop Exercise Part 4

If you'd like to perform your own tabletop exercise, the USEPA has tools and resources available here.

January 8, 2018 By Cassia Smith Emergency Response disaster planning, emergency planning, emergency response, tabletop exercises, disaster response, featured videos 0 0 Comment Read More »

Featured Video: Wastewater Treatment Series

If you've worked in administration at a wastewater utility, you probably know the whole process is a lot more complicated than some might think. Even the process of getting the waste from the houses in the community to the treatment center requires vigilance. And then the steps of the treatment process start to pile up. Preliminary, primary, secondary, and then there's sludge and effluent and different ways of handling those. Whether you're the mayor, on the board of directors, answering phones in the office, or cutting the checks, you've probably had to deal with different stage of this process over the course of your job.

If that's the case, here's a chance to brush up on the details of wastewater treatment without getting overwhelmed by technical language. In this week's video series, knowledgeable staffers from the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) explain the technical steps of wastewater in layman's terms. These videos are intended to help leaders, board members, and other administrative staff understand what's going on in the operation of their utility. This understanding can help you understand how to make wise operational, maintenance, and expansion decisions that take the realities of utility operation into account. The introduction video is embedded below; each of the following videos can be viewed by clicking on the titles below.

Wastewater Treatment - Introduction from RCAP on Vimeo.

For more on wastewater treatment for non-operators, see RCAP's A Drop of Knowledge handbook for wastewater systems. (There's one for drinking water systems too!)

January 5, 2018 By Cassia Smith Asset Management, Small System O&M, Wastewater featured videos, water utility board, wastewater treatment 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Featured Video: Energy Efficiency at Wastewater Treatment Facilities

As winter gets underway, many of communities are thinking about energy costs and energy savings. Utilities will recognize these concerns as well. Did you know 30-40% of a municipality's energy budget is spent on the treatment of drinking water and wastewater? Chances are someone at your utility has been made aware. With energy costs rising everywhere, it doesn't hurt to save money where you can and perform an energy audit at your utility.

This 7-and-a-half minute video from the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) doesn't go into the details of a full energy audit. But it does outline several areas where energy audits often find opportunities for savings. It can be a great way to introduce water boards, mayors, and other decision-makers to the benefits of energy audits. And even without being a full audit, it might give you some good ideas for your utility. Though the video highlights wastewater treatment facilities, most of the tips could be easily applied to drinking water utilities as well.

Energy Efficiency at Wastewater Treatment Facilities from RCAP on Vimeo.

If you're interested in getting an energy audit for your utility, RCAP staff are able to carry out energy audits for both water and wastewater utilities. To find the RCAP partner that serves your region, check their website.

December 1, 2017 By Cassia Smith Asset Management, Business Mindset, Small System O&M, Sustainability, Wastewater operations and maintenance, energy audit, energy conservation, energy efficiency, energy savings, featured videos, O&M 0 0 Comment Read More »

Featured Video: The Importance of an Operator

For Thanksgiving approaches, we want to take time to give thanks for the water operators who help ensure we have safe, delicious drinking water this holiday season.

As the employee(s) who handle technical operations at the utility, operators are probably the most important people to the overall operation of your system. They provide one of the most valuable services to Americans: they deliver the water that keeps us alive and treat our wastewater in order to protect the environment we live in. They keep us supplied with a necessity of life 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

This video explains the operational and legal importance of operators to a water utility, and features working water operators discussing what they love about the job. It can provide great insight into the field for water utility board members, or high school or community college students who are considering joining the profession.

The Importance of an Operator in a Community’s Water Systems from RCAP on Vimeo.

If you're a water or wastewater operator and reading our blog, thanks! We're grateful for your hard work toward making our communities a healthy and enjoyable place to live.

November 24, 2017 By Cassia Smith Asset Management featured videos, water utility operators 0 0 Comment Read More »

Featured Video: Serious Play

If you have kids, you might be very familiar with the shapes and structures that can be built out of Lego blocks. Even if you don't have kids, you might be about to get a healthy dose of kids' building supplies over the holidays, as parents try to keep their kids out from underfoot. But did you know those building supplies could be used to explain complex concepts to your customers?

In this video, a conservation nonprofit demonstrates how they used colored building blocks to explain possible remediation strategies for polluted sediment in the Lower Duwamish Waterway in Seattle. Even if you're not facing this specific situation, look for ideas on how simple toys like these can be used to explain complex concepts to your board, city council, or customers. After all, everyone loves to play, don't they?

For more on communicating complex concepts to people without expertise, check out our past blog entry on Communicating Science. And if you've found a particularly effective strategy for communicating difficult water utility concepts to your board or community members, let us know!

November 17, 2017 By Cassia Smith Public Education customer interactions, pr, public education, public relations, surface water planning, surface water remediation, environmental remediation, featured videos, surface water protection 0 0 Comment Read More »