ASHLAND, Mo. – The Missouri Rural Water Association is preparing two new programs to assist the development of rural water professionals and help them meet the needs of changing requirements.
      The association is about to launch a management circuit rider program dedicated to the specific needs of locally elected officials at these utilities: Water district boards and city council members. The focus of this program is to educate these decision makers about the many regulations that affect water and wastewater systems and how these details directly relate to their respective systems; and provide information regarding the state’s Sunshine Law, also known as the “Open Meetings Law.”
Another new service from MRWA stems from the recognition that not all of the state is equal. Far from the central hub of Missouri, in Columbia and Jefferson City, are the water and wastewater systems located in the far southeast portion of the state. These entities can easily be overlooked when planning training events and conferences, but their certified operators require continuing education credits just the same as their counterparts in the rest of the state. Unfortunately, many of them aren’t authorized to attend such events in central Missouri. Today, with current fuel costs, this would place an even bigger burden on such systems. To address this issue, MRWA will sponsor its first, annual “Boot Heel Expo” August 19 and 20 located in Sikeston, Mo.
       Operators running municipal, county or district water and/or wastewater utilities carry a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders. They have to meet all federal and state regulations from the Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water acts, monitor treatment processes, collect samples, keep records, maintain and repair equipment, determine future needs in order to formulate budgets, and acquire and maintain state certification. Their daily routines can range from hands-on repair of broken pipes to operating sophisticated, computerized equipment. They have to be versatile enough to do practical work and perform mathematical calculations as well. The duties they are called upon to undertake include electrical troubleshooting, water chemistry analyses and public relations.
With the 1996 revisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency has placed increasing emphasis upon capacity development, which is composed of three areas of concern that ultimately affect the entire water system operation: technical, managerial and financial.
Much of what has already been listed falls within technical capacity. It means the sustained ability to deliver drinking water to customers from an operational vantage. In other words, operators are to practice proactive (preventive) maintenance to ensure that the system obtains the maximum service life from all of its components. Another issue that falls within this category is emergency or disaster preparedness. If an operator fails to prepare for the consequences of possible emergency situations, the water system could become disabled during such an event. This would result in a lack of water capacity to meet the needs of its customers, a circumstance that in itself would constitute an emergency.
      Managerial capacity refers to an effective chain-of-command within the organization, proper record keeping and timely submission of required reports.
      It is closely tied to financial capacity. Water systems are ideally supposed to establish rates that recover the full costs of operation. This full-cost accountability isn’t limited to operations and maintenance: wages, benefits, professional services, insurance, vehicles, fuel, utilities, spare parts, tools, etc. It is meant to include separate, set-aside accounts, too: an emergency fund for unexpected breakdowns; a repair and replacement fund for anticipated maintenance or retirement of aging equipment; and a capital improvement fund for future development (new treatment facility, extension of water lines, etc.). Additionally, lenders usually require a debt reserve for any outstanding balances.
     These expectations add to the list of skills that an operator must possess in order to capably run a water utility.
      Depending upon the size and complexity of the utility, managerial and financial duties can be shared by the clerk in charge, sometimes a city clerk or billing specialist. This person lends assistance in analyzing the water rates to determine if they are adequate for meeting the system’s needs. Admittedly, neither the operator in charge nor the clerk is usually a professed financial expert and has limited experience with this process, at best.
     Missouri Rural Water Association is a member-based, non-profit service organization within the water and wastewater industry, which serves the needs of “rural” Missouri, including municipalities, counties, districts, schools and privately owned water and wastewater supplies. These systems typically serve fewer than 10,000 people, although MRWA has capabilities for serving larger systems as well.
       A readily accessible method for providing valuable resources to these systems is the MRWA Web site: www.moruralwater.org. Significant improvements are currently underway that will provide additional features: capabilities for credit/debit card purchases of fee-based services; a Web page development service for systems or individuals; easy navigation for locating topics of interest; and an expanded list of resources for every need imaginable.
      Existing services that MRWA offers are one-day training classes and multi-day certification courses for both water and wastewater; leak detection; valve locates; pressure surveys; static, dynamic and drawdown level determinations for wells; GIS mapping of underground utilities; smoke testing of wastewater lines; technical assistance and troubleshooting for water and wastewater systems; and regulatory compliance and source water protection assistance

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