RCAP's Drop of Knowledge: Article Roundup #4 Drop of Knowledge is a monthly digital article from Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP.) The articles focus on topics like wastewater, drinking water, policy, and infrastructure in rural America. It contains how-to’s, tips, and guidance from more than 300 technical assistance providers (TAPs) across the country. Some featured articles are linked below: Resolving Inflow and Infiltration Issues in a Growing Community The Beginner’s Guide to Geospatial Asset Management How Smoke Testing Can Help Your Small Wastewater Collection System Red Cliff Wastewater Treatment Plant Compliant Treatment Process Meeting the October 2024 Deadline: A Quick Guide for Water Utilities Struggling to Get Started with Lead Service Line Inventory Compliance What is the Most Important Business in Your Community? Looking for something else? Find more articles and subscribe to A Drop of Knowledge. July 30, 2024 By Katelyn McLaughlin Asset Management, Capacity Development, Compliance Monitoring, Financial Management, Innovative Technology, Operations and Maintenance, Small System O&M, Utility Management, Wastewater asset management, drinking water, smoke testing, wastewater 0 0 Comment Read More »
RCAP's Drop of Knowledge: Article Roundup #3 Drop of Knowledge is a monthly digital article from Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP.) The articles focus on topics like wastewater, drinking water, policy, and infrastructure in rural America. It contains how-to’s, tips, and guidance from more than 300 technical assistance providers (TAPs) across the country. Some featured articles are linked below: Assessing Your Collection System with a Pipeline Camera System Water System Achieves Compliance In One Year With Communities Unlimited’s Assistance Administrative Professionals and Their Continuous Contributions to Water and Wastewater Systems Staff in Nebraska is Helping to Build a Sustainable, Resilient Utility Workforce System Vulnerability Assessments and Emergency Response Plans Effective Communication with the Community Looking for something else? Find more articles and subscribe to A Drop of Knowledge. July 2, 2024 By Katelyn McLaughlin Asset Management, Capacity Development, Emergency Response, Financial Management, Operations and Maintenance, Small System O&M, Utility Management, Workforce communication, community development, emergency response, infrastructure, workforce 0 0 Comment Read More »
Water and Wastewater Utility Management The federal government and many states and national organizations put emphasis on training for water utility boards and other individuals and entities responsible for utility management. The water sector faces a number of challenges at an organizational level, including an aging workforce that’s getting ready to retire, aging infrastructure that’s approaching the end of its useful life, future (or current) water shortages in various areas of the country, and increasingly stringent U.S. EPA standards for both finished drinking water and wastewater effluent. By giving managers and board members a broader perspective on the water sector and the tools to manage well, state and federal agencies and TA organizations hope to prepare utilities for the challenges ahead. We have over 2,500 resources (and counting) on Utility Management in our Documents Database that provide valuable information on this topic. You can search for documents about best practices in building and evaluating managerial capacity, funding to develop a cybersecurity program, how to ensure your utility becomes more “climate ready," and many other useful guides that will help you to deliver safe and clean water to utility customers. To access the wealth of knowledge on Utility Management within our database just select "CATEGORY" in the dropdown then choose "Utility Management." Once you make that selection, a second dropdown will appear where you can choose "HOST," “TYPE,” or “STATE” to narrow the search even further. If you have a specific search term in mind, use the “Keyword Filter” search bar on the right side of the screen. This is part of our A-Z for Operators series. May 3, 2024 By Katelyn McLaughlin A-Z for Operators series, Capacity Development, Utility Management A-Z for Operators, free resources, utility management 0 0 Comment Read More »
Defend Your Water System Against Drought Many states across the United States are currently experiencing one of the worst droughts in American history. Some are even experiencing a "megadrought", meaning that they have been experiencing drought conditions for many years. Climate change also exacerbates drought conditions by increasing the average global temperature and causing irregular weather patterns. Westerns states such as California, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Idaho are experiencing some of the most extreme effects. Drought is particularly devastating because it is slow coming but its effects are widespread. Increased drought conditions can result in: Loss of water pressure and supply Poor water quality Limited access to alternative water sources Increased customer demand Increased costs and reduced revenues For example, in Nevada, the drought has had disastrous impacts on Lake Mead, the largest water reservoir in the United States that currently provides water for over 20 million people across California, Nevada, Arizona, and some of Mexico. The reservoir is now at the lowest it has been since it was filled in 1937 and the situation is so extreme that the federal government is expected to declare an official Lake Mead shortage by the end of the summer. Drought can also negatively impact drinking water providers that rely on lakes because they can increase the number of algal blooms in freshwater. Algal blooms not only contain chemicals that are toxic to humans but large amounts of algae can also clog water filters and damage the water treatment process. A total of 31 states are currently experiencing moderate to severe drought across the country. Research also shows that the drought has become progressively worse over the past few decades. The U.S. Drought Monitor website has a feature that allows you to monitor the level of drought happening in your area. Like most natural disasters, rural and low-income communities are often hit the hardest by drought conditions because of their lack of access to resources and infrastructure. Rural farmers are also greatly impacted by drought because of the lack of water available for irrigation, making it very difficult to support themselves. Droughts are a public health issue because they affect access to clean and safe drinking water. Practicing emergency response and preparedness is the best way to minimize severe impacts from drought. To avoid serious impacts from droughts, water utilities should: Conduct observation and monitoring Practice planning and preparedness Predict and forecast Maintain good communication and outreach with customers Use interdisciplinary research and applications We've gathered some of the best resources from our library to help you dig in further to this topic. Resources for Drought Assessment and Resilience Incident Action Checklist – Drought This checklist from the U.S. EPA provides various ways for water and wastewater utilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a drought. 10 Ways to Prepare for a Drought Related Water Shortage This resource from the Rural Community Assistance Partnership lists ten ways to prepare your small water system for water shortages. Small Water Systems and Rural Communities Drought and Water Shortage Contingency Planning and Risk Assessment This report can be used to help strengthen your water shortage vulnerability assessments and risk scoring. Drought Contingency Plan for a Retail Public Water Supplier This is a sample form that can be used as a model of a drought contingency plan for a retail public water supplier. Drought Management Plan A Template for Small Water Systems This document outlines mitigation measures that water managers can take to greatly minimize the effects of drought. 100 Water Saving Tips from “Water. Use it wisely.” Communicate some of these water-saving tips to your customers to help them conserve water during a drought. June 29, 2021 By Jennifer Wilson Capacity Development, Emergency Response, Security drought 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 »
Solving the Rural Water Crisis Every fall, Americans from all walks of life and locations drive through the countryside to enjoy the changing foliage, apple orchards and park-lands, often barely glancing at the small water or wastewater utilities along the roadsides that serve area residents. Yet if they took the effort to speak to the people who are struggling, often at great odds, to provide or clean water in these rural areas, they might begin to understand that even in this country, with all its resources and technological advances, there are many places — just around the bend — where clean water is not a given. In fact, according to this recent article, of the 5,000 drinking water systems that racked up health-based violations in 2015, more than 50 percent were systems that serve 500 people or fewer. The challenges of these small rural systems are many: aging infrastructure (add to this a lack of overflow capacity for wastewater systems), water quality issues, comparatively lower water operator wages, increasing man-made and natural disaster hazards such as extreme rain events, stricter health standards, a small pool of paying customers, and, always, a lack of funding. The new infrastructure bill just recently signed by the president is providing some hope for the future (it has a significant catch, though — its authorizations still require yearly appropriations installments), but for now, many communities live in a constant state of worry about their water. On top of this, many rural communities are dealing with the political and economic pressure to sell their utilities to private companies, if they haven't already done so, a particularly tempting option in times of crisis. According to a recent special series on the rural water crisis from NPR, this "complicated mix of public and private ownership often confounds efforts to mandate improvements or levy penalties, even if customers complain of poor water quality or mismanagement." But there is hope on the horizon. Certainly increased funding for infrastructure is part of the solution. But according to California water commissioner Maria Herrera in this recent article, more can be done. She suggests that legislation should also increase technical assistance funding and give communities an opportunity to hire consultants to develop shovel-ready projects and fund safe drinking water projects. Also on her wish list: "We need to not only fund mitigation of contaminated wells and treatment plants, but also help communities develop redundant water sources, promote consolidation of small systems to larger ones, and help them with drought contingency planning. Communities need guidance and technical assistance in order to develop solutions and participate in water planning." In Louisiana, circuit rider Timmy Lemoine says in this article that he is "seeing a shift as small systems allow larger systems with a certified operator take over management." And at the University of Iowa, engineers are testing new wastewater treatment technologies, hoping to defray costs for aging small-town systems. In addition, organizations such as the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) have a wealth of resources to support rural utilities and help them save money, such as this energy efficiency video. The question remains if solutions such as these will be sufficient to ensure that rural residents can count on clean water now and into the future. November 9, 2018 By Brenda Koenig Asset Management, Capacity Development, Funding, Source Water Protection, Sustainability, Utility Management aging infrastructure, consolidation, contamination, funding, partnerships, regionalization, rural systems, rural water crisis, small systems, technical assistance, water quality concerns 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Video: Providing Sustainable Utility Management Strategies and Resources Many rural and small water and wastewater systems throughout the country face considerable management and operational challenges. This week's featured video highlights the benefits of attending a "Workshop in a Box: Sustainable Management of Rural and Small Systems" training to help manage these challenges. The video features people who who attended this training: small system managers, technical assistance providers, workshop participants, and a small town decision-maker. Interested in attending this training? An in-person session is scheduled for later this month (9/28) in Logan, West Virginia and will cover, among other things, how to use the Rural and Small Systems Guidebook to Sustainable Utility Management to make system improvements. This material will be also be covered in an USEPA webinar this coming Thursday (9/13) at 2 pm Eastern Time. Help your utilities provide affordable and dependable water by attending this workshop and make your water systems a community priority. September 10, 2018 By Brenda Koenig Asset Management, Capacity Development, Utility Management effective utility management, eum, sustainability, sustainable management, utility management 0 0 Comment Read More »
New Video Series: Compliance Conversations for Small Water Systems Every time we hop on a call or head to a conference, we hear from experts with a wealth of knowledge. From "Why didn't I think of that?" tips to fascinating case studies, we're bringing the juiciest tidbits to you with a new video series. Compliance Conversations offers insights on operating and managing a small public water system from a range of contributors. Each episode will feature an interview with a water industry professional so you can learn from the comfort of your computer or favorite device. The first four episodes feature Jeff Oxenford, of Oxenford Consulting and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership. In these episodes, Jeff breaks down the most common drinking water compliance issues: The Most Common Drinking Water Compliance Issues | 001 A New Way to Look at Your Water System's Sanitary Survey | 002 How to Prepare for the Unexpected at Your Water System | 003 The Most Important Factor for Public Water System Compliance | 004 We're already working on a new batch of episodes, so make sure to subscribe to the WaterOperator.org YouTube channel so you will be the first to know when new videos are uploaded! September 10, 2018 By Jennifer Wilson Capacity Development videos 0 0 Comment Read More »
Hiring an Engineer for Your Infrastructure Project Water and wastewater systems can be some of a community's largest investments, so it is really important to get it right—decisions made in the early stages of infrastructure planning can impact a community for generations to come. Community leaders are often tempted to let an outside consultant completely handle the project because they are worried they don't have the expertise to make the right decisions. However, it is important to stay actively involved so that the community’s voice is not lost and the project is appropriate, affordable, and supported by the public. Certainly one of the most critical early-stage decisions in this process is who to hire as your engineer, the person who will be involved in nearly every aspect of the project from evaluating financing options, completing designs, obtaining permits, bidding the project, and the actual construction. And make no mistake, this hiring process can be a challenging task. Luckily, WaterOperator.org has a collection of resources to help you through. For example, this RCAP guide explains the steps that communities can take to gain control of the project-development process. It is a very detailed how-to and includes many pitfalls to avoid. It discusses securing funding, how to stay organized, and, how to hire an engineer. RCAP recommends following a QBS (qualification-based selection) process in order to choose an engineer whose strengths, experience and skills match your system's needs. For more information regarding the QBS process, you can read this manual from Ohio Qualification Based Selection Coalition (while some of the information may be specific to Ohio, much of the process is similar regardless of the state). In addition, RCAP has a handy list of 10 tips to help communities hire an engineer. Other helpful resources in our library include Washington State DOH's guide for small public water systems on how to hire an engineer. Included in this guide are considerations regarding how to determine costs of services provided. Idaho's DEQ also has an engineer hiring guide that includes questions to ask during the interview. And this MAP guide emphasizes the importance of having a survey or analysis of the condition of your present system, as well as the problems a new project will address. This "Scope of Work", according to MAP, is perhaps the most important part of your Request for Proposals when searching for an engineer. A final, but valuable, piece of advice, repeated throughout these resources, is that selection should be based on demonstrated competence and qualifications and not on price for services rendered. In this way, you can ensure that the project will be a valued community asset for years to come. August 28, 2018 By Brenda Koenig Asset Management, Capacity Development asset management, capital improvement, construction, construction projects, engineering, featured document, financial management, hiring an engineer, infrastructure 0 0 Comment Read More »
Featured Videos: RCAP's Technical Assistance Providers on What's Really Important About Their Jobs These brief videos introduce RCAP technical assistance providers and how they work to improve small water and wastewater systems across the country. These videos demonstrate that while every system and community experiences different challenges, the importance of building trusting relationships with stakeholders to address these challenges is a constant. Technical Assistance Provider, Alexander Brandon, at the 2018 RCAP National Conference Technical Assistance Provider, Bud Mason, at 2018 RCAP National Training Conference August 14, 2018 By Brenda Koenig Capacity Development, Small System O&M partnerships, rcap, ta providers, techinical assistance providers 0 0 Comment Read More »