RCAP's Drop of Knowledge: Article Roundup #5

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:

• Pembroke Township Public Water System Training and Assistance for Drinking Water Operators
• Communicating About Lead in Drinking Water
• Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck – GIS Mapping
• Board Relationships: Navigating the Waters of Governance and Operations
• The Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) Helps Island Community Retain Local Water System Ownership
• Big Changes for a Small Water System

Looking for something else? Find more articles and subscribe to A Drop of Knowledge.

Funding Wastewater Infrastructure Projects | Recorded on July 23, 2024

In this recording of our recent live webinar "Funding Wastewater Infrastructure Projects" viewers will discover some of the most helpful wastewater funding resources and learn how to use our search tools at WaterOperator.org to find additional resources and training events. 

This webinar series from WaterOperator.org covers topics relevant to wastewater operators, including funding, asset management, compliance, and water quality. Certificates of attendance will be delivered upon request to live attendees but are not available for watching this replay. 

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.

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.

Financial Management for Small Water Utilities

Many small public water systems lack organized finances, with little to no budgeting or accounting, no long-term financial planning, and customer rates that are not adequate to cover expenses. Many small systems also need expensive repairs or upgrades that would be difficult to afford even if they had impeccable book-keeping. In recognition of this, the federal government and many national organizations provide small systems with resources to organize and improve their finances, as well as grants to help fund major projects.

We have 1712 resources (and counting) on Financial Management in our Documents Database that provide valuable information on this topic. You can search for documents on funding opportunities to build system resiliency, building a financially healthy water system, how to use the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) to mitigate the impact of drought on drinking water systems or to address DBPs in drinking water, 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 Financial Management within our database just select "CATEGORY" in the dropdown then choose "Financial 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.

RCAP's A Drop of Knowledge: Recent Article Roundup #2

A 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 recent featured articles are linked below:

• Effective Communication with the Community | RCAP
• System Vulnerability Assessments and Emergency Response Plans | RCAP
• Staff in Nebraska is Helping to Build a Sustainable, Resilient Utility Workforce | RCAP
• Administrative Professionals and Their Continuous Contributions to Water and Wastewater Systems | RCAP
• Assessing Your Collection System with a Pipeline Camera System  | RCAP
• Removing Arsenic from A Tribal School's Water System | RCAP

Looking for something else? Find more articles and subscribe to A Drop of Knowledge.

Free Program to Help Rural Entrepreneurs Thrive

In 2021 the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) launched the Open for Business program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the program is to serve entrepreneurs across the country in launching and growing their business through the help of RCAP’s extensive network. 

The Open for Business program offers free tools designed to assist entrepreneurs looking for resources to enhance their business. The program’s hub has self-guided online workshops, live webinars on relevant topics for expanding your business, and one-on-one coaching from a team of professionals with a wide range of expertise. Register for one of their live webinars below:

• January 5, 2023 - Developing an Effective Website
• January 19, 2023 - Budgeting and Bookkeeping: Part 1

The Open for Business hub also offers training resources that provide knowledge on some of the most used digital tools in business as well as financial assistance resources via a list of up-to-date government, non-profit, and private funding sources and loans for small businesses. 

For additional knowledge-building, the WaterOperator.org blog also regularly features content on running your water system like a business. Here are some examples:

• Promoting Equality and Equity: Resources for the Water Industry
• Maintaining Customer Satisfaction
• Protecting Your Customers From Utility Scams
• Social Media 101 for Public Water Systems

Featured Video: Infusing Innovation into the DNA of Our Culture

There are many factors that drive the current utility model for wastewater operations. With traditional values in play, we have reached difficult economic and operational challenges. In order to address these challenges, we must adapt a new mindset and new utility model to push affordability for water customers, better equipment management, and increased compliancy.

Adapting a more innovative approach and mindset:
Our current utility practices suggest that our societal and business values coincide with "extraction, use, and waste disposal". This creates a motivation that is, at bare minimum, driven by public engagement, capital investment, and operations & maintenance. As a result our current water resources are being utilized inefficiently and ultimately running low. We must instead adapt a Resource Recovery business model for a circular economy. Focus must be shifted from regulatory compliance, utility impact, and traditional utility models to pivot toward ecological uplift, collective impact, and a transformative entrepreneurial business model. This new business model should include focus on resource recovery and watershed health as well as pump, plant, and pipe health.

The start of a new, innovative, and effective approach might be slow but can grow exponentially. Water organizations must start with efficiency and work their way to optimization, which will lead into investments for bigger ideas and new intellectual property such as smart meters, efficient pumps, proper monitoring equipment, better facilities, and so forth. Collective cooperation and corresponding mindsets will keep the industry on the same track with the addition of new water personnel and management turnover.

In this week’s featured video by the Water Research Foundation, Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, Deputy General Manager at Clean Water Services, presents a case study for how her organization is improving utility functionality through a culture of innovation.

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.

Featured Video - WaterClips: Financial Benchmarking for Water Utilities

In this Featured Video, the Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill reviews the basics on how to properly monitor utility finances. Financial monitoring is crucial in making successful short-term and long-term management decisions to maintain optimal treatment levels, good customer service, and the longevity of your system. The financial benchmarking methods covered in this video include Current Ratio, Days Cash on Hand, Operating Ratio, and Debt Service Coverage Ratio. Implementing consistent benchmarking tools will ensure that your utility is working to cover the true system costs while planning for infrastructure depreciation and unexpected expenses.