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Getting Assistance
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Email to friendGetting assistance with your community’s water or wastewater system
If you are seeking assistance in your local area, please click on the region that your state is in on the map below, and contact the office for your region. RCAP’s regional offices coordinate the communities they work with in the states in their region.
Please note: RCAP does not provide assistance at the individual, single family, or individual home level, such as with the repair or replacement of a single building's septic system. Rather, it works at a community level, assisting multiple households at once or working, for example, with a community’s council or a town’s water board or elected officials.
Typical assistance process for small communities or utilities:
- A community is referred to RCAP for assistance (from the Dept. of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service, the state health/environmental department where the community is located, public officials, etc.); or a direct request from a community is made.
- Initial data gathering and eligibility determination takes place.
- RCAP initiates direct contact with the community and schedules a site visit.
- Onsite, RCAP assesses the community’s problems and needs; prioritizes its needs.
- RCAP works with the community to develop a problem description and service plan, which includes proposed tasks and projected outcomes.
- RCAP obtains an agreement from the community on the proposed service plan.
- RCAP assigns the project to a Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) and enrolls the community into its database for record keeping and reporting.
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The project service plan is implemented.
- RCAP coordinates the work with the community, helps it to utilize other resources, and helps to keep funder/primacy agencies informed..
- A report on completed tasks is generated; progress on resolving problems and needs is summarized.
- The overall success in achieving a satisfactory resolution of problems and needs is reported.
- The projects is closed.
Other forms of assistance
Through this website and the communications resources RCAP produces, we share information and our expertise and knowledge and provide access to other sources of assistance:
