Last week, Rep. Steve Southerland II (R-Fla.) introduced HR 1632: The Building Rural Communities Act (BRCA). The bill is cosponsored by Reps. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), William Enyart (D-Ill.), Don Young (R-Alaska), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), Steve Stockman (R-Texas), Reid Ribble (R-Wisc.), and Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.).

On April 8, Southerland used an RCAP community in Florida as the setting to announce his intentions to introduce the bill.

EPA has developed a Resource Guide to Effective Utility Management and Lean based on input and examples from several utilities. The guide explains how utilities can use these two important and complementary approaches to reduce waste and improve overall efficiency and effectiveness. Effective utility management provides a common management framework to help water and wastewater systems build and sustain the technical, managerial and financial capacity needed to ensure sustainable operations.