A Drop of Knowledge

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, for every 100 employees in the water, sewage, and other systems-related industries, 5.4 employees sustained injuries. Of those injured, 2.8 out of every 100 employees were injured severely enough to result in missed work, job transfers, or restricted duties (http://bls.gov/web/osh/table-1-industry-rates-national.html). These statistics highlight a clear need for employees to know the potential hazards they may be exposed to and how to protect themselves. 

Water and wastewater treatment employees face various risks and hazards daily, and addressing these risks is vital to ensure the well-being of both employees and citizens of the communities they serve. Safety training is the attempt to inform employees of how to prevent and respond to work-related illness and injury. Safety training can be provided in different formats, such as on-the-job safety equipment training, classroom seminars, online training, and/or videos. Good safety training will inform employees of potential danger on the job and will teach and encourage safe work habits.  

Safety training should be designed to fit the needs of the target audience. Rather than have a standard form of safety training, start with a few fundamentals, and then deal with specific risks to the particular employee. With this in mind, training can include some of the following: 

Proper use of equipment: Train employees on the correct use of any equipment they will be using. Follow that up with a quick observation of the employees using the equipment themselves to ensure comprehension.  

Appropriate storage and equipment and materials: The third leading cause of injury is bodily reactions such as slipping and tripping. A large percentage of these accidents can be avoided by simply keeping walkways clear and work areas clean.  

Handling of hazardous material: Employees should be trained in how to be confident and careful with such materials.  

Reporting procedures: When employees notice an unsafe area or situation on the job, it is important that they know how to report it and have it corrected.  

Responding to injuries on the job: It is inevitable that some injuries will happen on the job. How should employees respond when they or someone else is injured on the job? To whom should they report the injury? If employees need basic first aid skills, include a first aid class as part of the training.  

Working alone: It may not always be possible to send people out in pairs, depending on staffing numbers and the needs of various jobs. This is where Lone Worker Safety Programs provide individuals with the support needed to complete jobs safely. It can be as simple as implementing a check-in schedule to encourage communication between employees and/or supervisors.  

There is no end to the possible topics of safety training. One common practice is to record injuries that have occurred at your workplace in the past year or two and tailor safety training to address those specific issues.   

Not only do you need to record injuries, but you also need to record all training that has been conducted during the year. Review your safety training program annually to gauge your current safety practices, to assess their effectiveness and to identify any other risks that they have yet to address. 

Safety is a number one priority, and maintaining a zero -accident record should be everyone’s goal. 

This article was funded under RCAP’s USDA Technitrain 23 – 25 grant.  

Many small systems find themselves in dire straits during extreme weather events due to improper installation of waterlines during the original construction of the system. These issues often become apparent during events such as droughts, high temperatures, or sub-freezing conditions. In these scenarios, the costs of repairs can be substantial, and affected customers may experience low water pressure or complete service interruptions, leading to diminished customer confidence in the system.   

How can these issues be avoided? 

Ensure your project engineer stays engaged with the system during construction and makes frequent unscheduled visits.  

Hire a qualified project inspector who can interpret the plans and specifications and is confident enough to enforce them. Interview prospective inspectors and have them go through the plans and specifications and demonstrate their ability to understand the requirements. 

Call in the project engineer if needed to give clarification and directions to the contractor. If project inspection is provided by the engineering firm, make sure the inspector is always present during line installation or require the contractor to leave the trench open until it is inspected.  

Require the project inspector to keep a daily diary to include weather and ground conditions, the number of crew members on site each day, the amount of pipe installed each day, notes as to any issues that arise each day, notes regarding any materials delivered, and whether these meet the specifications. This daily diary will be of value when change orders are requested for extra contract days, and if there are any questions as to the quantities of line installed for the monthly pay estimate.  

Schedule regular monthly construction progress meetings to discuss work performed, quantity and quality of work, time schedules, pay estimates, and change orders. If issues are noted during inspections, this is the time to review the plans and specifications and make sure everyone understands what is expected and what will be accepted. 

Require the contractor to make change order requests as changes are needed, and monthly for any requests for a time extension based on weather conditions. Discussing these during the monthly progress meeting can help everyone come to an agreement and help appropriately manage the contingency fund.  

Have someone from the system, such as a board member or operator, take an active role in checking in with the inspector and seeing what work is being done. This person can’t give directions to the contractor but can report to the governing body and project engineer if there are issues noted. This person should attend the monthly progress meeting and if the issues they noticed are not discussed by the project inspector during the meeting, bring this to the engineer’s attention. 

Take pictures or videos. This cannot be stressed enough. If you have pictures of work in progress, you have documentation if the contractor is not meeting the requirements of the contract. Pictures are worth a thousand words. 

In ensuring proper line installation, vigilance and proactive measures are key. By implementing stringent inspection protocols, fostering clear communication channels and maintaining meticulous documentation, small systems can safeguard against future nightmares, ensuring reliable water service and maintaining customer trust, even in the face of extreme weather events. 

This article was funded under RCAP’s USDA Technitrain 23 – 24 grant.  

Municipal Water Leader Magazine recently published an article highlighting RCAP CEO Olga Morales-Pate. The interview’s focus spans across the work RCAP does. As a network of six regional partners that operate across the nation, the needs and challenges of each rural community can vary greatly. What ties this work together, however, are the dedicated staff, partners, and community members who are committed to tackling the obstacles in front of them. “… rural areas have a lot of basic infrastructure needs,” Morales-Pate states. “We need to invest in an intentional way to make those communities resilient, which will benefit the entire country. That is the vision we work for each day, and we do everything we can to make it a reality.”

Click here to read the full article.

Per- and Polyfluorniated substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals used for decades to make non-stick and water-resistant consumer products. Exposure to PFAS through drinking water is a global health concern. In 2021, the city of Glen Dale, West Virginia identified PFAS in their drinking water.

See how this city is battling PFAS contaminants and what their plan is on tackling this issue.

Hysham is a small community of 276 people on the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana. The town has struggled to keep a certified operator and was on a Do-Not-Consume order for more than a year due to the buildup of Manganese in the transmission mains and treatment plant piping. The treatment plant and transmission piping are quite old and need replacement. The Town is pursuing emerging contaminant funding through the SRF program to replace the transmission mains and piping with excess manganese buildup. The town is 53% low to moderate income and is considered disadvantaged by USDA under the Climate Change, Energy, Health, and Legacy Pollution categories. Hysham is in the 90th percentile for heart disease and the 95th percentile for cancer rates. As far as climate change is concerned, Hysham is in the 80-90th percentile for both flood and wildfire risk.

Watch their story and see how the Midwest Assistance Program (MAP) assisted them in getting off the Do-Not-Consume order.

Water utilities are constantly juggling the management of their physical and digital infrastructure. With a myriad of assets ranging from pump stations and storage tanks to valves, hydrants, and pipes, proactive management of these assets can seem insurmountable for operators, particularly those overseeing small to medium-sized systems with limited resources. For staff managing these utilities alone or with minimal assistance, keeping track of numerous assets can feel overwhelming, especially without access to a robust asset management software that offers features such as smart data entry, analytics, and customization. 

Recognizing the need for a comprehensive solution at an affordable price, many water operators in small utility systems are turning to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS not only enables operators to pinpoint assets using GPS coordinates and photos, but also facilitates streamlined recording of operation, maintenance, and inspection records. This data can be easily accessed and analyzed through a real-time asset management dashboard. Therefore, GIS emerges as an indispensable “one-stop shop” for small water utilities, addressing their needs for accurate asset location, asset management, and operational efficiency. Small water systems typically rely on multiple software applications for efficient day-to-day operations of water treatment and distribution. Navigating through these various applications can be challenging for operators, particularly when managing other essential maintenance tasks. For instance, a water system may utilize computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software for meter billing and customer data management, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems for monitoring treatment-related assets such as tank levels, chemical levels, and pump performances, as well as software for leak detection or material identification. Given this complexity, it becomes crucial to consolidate distribution-related recordkeeping and asset locating using GIS as a primary software system. This eliminates the need for multiple individual software applications for each specific use, streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency.  

GIS can handle complex calculations, such as logging critical data during hydrant flushing operations, estimating the water loss during a main break, or recording historical data in a valve exercising program. Moreover, GIS enables visualization and analysis of data from these operations and maintenance activities through various web mapping applications and dashboards. This capability empowers operators to make informed decisions and optimize their system’s performance. Another significant benefit of GIS is its capability to serve as a central repository for various existing data sources. Whether it is as-built engineer records, curb stop tie cards, asset management records, scanned work orders, or other pertinent information, GIS can consolidate this information into one unified location known as a geodatabase. This geodatabase can then be integrated into online web-based GIS layers, offering a digital representation of each asset on the map. These layers include tabular descriptions, tables, attachments, and photos, providing a comprehensive and easily accessible database for efficient data management. The versatility of GIS software makes it ideal for small water systems, eliminating the need to purchase separate software for each individual operations and maintenance task. GIS can be recognized as the “last stop” in a water operator’s journey to managing their physical and digital infrastructures.  

This article was funded under RCAP’s EPA NPA 1 23 – 25 grant.

State recognized municipalities located within Tribal boundaries can sometimes have unique challenges not seen in a typical small town. The incorporated city of Eagle Butte, South Dakota (population 1,258, of which 88% are American Indian) is the home of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) Tribal headquarters and lies inside the boundaries of this Tribal nation. The CRST reservation was created in 1889 by the breakup of the Great Sioux Reservation with four of the seven Lakota bands. The reservation is located in north central South Dakota and covers almost all of Dewey and Ziebach Counties. The total land area is 4,266,987 square miles, making it the fourth largest Tribal-owned land area in the United States.  

Before the CRST created their own utility, any Tribal-paid improvements made to utilities inside city limits were transferred to the city to maintain. Around 2014, the CRST created the Mni Wašté Water Company and started handling their own wastewater operations and maintenance for the Reservation. As a result, the question of ownership came into play for prior improvements and maintenance to the aging system and who was responsible for future repairs and replacements. With those unanswered questions, there was potential for conflict. For example, at one point in time, one entity hired a contractor to inspect the sewer lines with a camera, resulting in the other entity issuing a cease-and-desist order through their legal counsel. Although the video confirmed that the gravity sewer infrastructure needed repairs and replacements, which was already obvious due to the known collapsed non-working sewer lines, the situation has become contentious because there are two utilities vying for the utility revenue. 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Long Term Group (CRSTLTG) contacted Midwest Assistance Program (MAP) to request their assistance in getting their Tribe and Eagle Butte back on track to make necessary improvements to their infrastructure. Initially, MAP identified possible funding to fix these issues: the State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF), the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA-RD), and/or the Indian Health Services (IHS). However, until ownership could be determined, it was impossible to know which entity applies for and manages the funds, since only one utility can apply for and receive funds with the approval of the other entity.  

The first thing MAP did was identify all the players and convened a meeting that included representatives from the city of Eagle Butte, CRST, CRSTLTG, USDA-RD, IHS, the Planning District, and the city’s engineering firm. SRF representatives had removed themselves from the discussion, recognizing that Eagle Butte could obtain more grant funds through USDA-RD, considering their Tribal status and that their median household income (MHI) was below 60% of the state’s average. Dialogue could now resume between all the parties to ensure the repairs were made to the systems.   

MAP then started helping the city with the USDA-RD application, while simultaneously providing on-site training to the new finance officer.  MAP drafted a letter of support from the city to the CRST, asking for their support for the improvements. If support was granted, the city would receive an additional 10% in USDA-RD grant funding, but the CRST has yet to sign the letter.  

Despite these setbacks, these entities are all in dialogue to uncover solutions for their utility issues, with MAP’s assistance. As a result, the engineering firm initiated planning and worked on gathering cost estimates, while USDA-RD reopened the old applications. The CRSTLTG is grateful for MAP’s assistance and remains positive that the two entities can work out their differences for the good of their community. 

“Your commitment has had a profound impact on our community, and we deeply appreciate the care and attention you’ve shown throughout this process. Your efforts have not only addressed our immediate needs but have also laid the foundation for a stronger, more resilient future for our community.” – Art Rave, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Long Term Group  

 MAP will continue to provide assistance for a long-term solution for the residents of Eagle Butte and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.   

This article was funded under RCAP’s EPA Treatment Works 3 – Tribal 23 – 26 grant. 

At the end of 2023, the Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (GLCAP) received a referral to start work with the Savannah Army Depot that had been significantly reduced in size. The site was located just outside Savannah, Illinois, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in Jo Davies and Carroll County. At one time, the Army Depot was over 13,000 acres and was used for artillery weapons and ammunition testing before its decommissioning by the United States Army in 2000. Currently, there are 30 water and wastewater connections at the Army Depot.  

GLCAP Operator Anthony Brown was able to connect with Army Depot personnel to schedule a site visit. Brown began the visit by collecting technical, managerial and financial information from the Depot’s wastewater operator in order to complete an assessment of the facility. During this visit, Brown also shared a flash drive with wastewater resources, which were provided by the RCAP national office through an EPA grant.  

Later in the year, Brown returned to the Army Depot to complete a condition assessment of the wastewater system. He walked through the system with the operator and began identifying major issues that needed to be addressed. Through the assessment, it was determined that two major challenges were the presence of I & I (inflow & infiltration) in the system and a loss of sanitary water to the underground environment. He was able to investigate these issues and begin to build a work plan on remediation.  

Brown also determined that the wastewater collection system needed to be cleaned and televised and recommended inserting CIP (cast in place) lining as a more cost-effective way to address defects in the system. He is now working with the Army Depot to develop cost identify potential contractors to complete the project. Moving forward, Brown is also assisting the Depot with identifying funding options for these proposed improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.  

The Savannah Army Depot project is unique. As a decommissioned site, it presents several challenges, including working with Army Corps of Engineers requirements as well as the shift in population. GLCAP is going to continue to assist the Army Depot and offer any assistance they may need.   

This article was funded under RCAP’s  EPA Treatment Works 1 Grant. 

A failing septic system can cause numerous issues for a homeowner. It can affect household well water quality and decrease the property’s value. Repairing or replacing a septic system can be costly or require more land than is available. Plus, if the failure results in raw sewage leaving the property or impacting other property, a complaint can be filed with the local health department or state primacy agency. The agency investigating the complaint can then issue enforcement actions under the Clean Water Act and county or state health codes, including declaring the home unfit for habitation, levying fines, or other legal action– leaving the homeowner wondering where to turn for help. 

In early January 2024, the Environmental Services Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) was contacted by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) regarding enforcement action against a homeowner due to a failing septic system. The home’s wastewater was being piped to a hand-dug cesspool at the lower end of his property, and sewage had spilled over onto a neighboring property.  

First, a CU Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) gathered resources to share with the homeowner. They connected the homeowner with the US Department of Agriculture’s “504” Housing Program, which could cover the cost of home safety and sanitation repairs, in case the owner met the income guidelines. Although the homeowner did not qualify for the “504”, the CU TAP next provided the homeowner with information about the CU Decentralized Water System loan product, including estimating a monthly payment amount. The CU Lending Team then guided the owner through the process of applying for a loan. In March, the homeowner was awarded a loan of $7,900 to install an aerobic septic system. The system was installed in early April 2024, remedying the ODEQ enforcement action.  

Although two other dwellings tied to the cesspool did not meet the eligibility requirements for the CU loan, CU provided information on other resources that might be available to these homeowners. 

Finally, the CU TAP facilitated conversations with the ODEQ staff to ensure the court actions initiated against the homeowner would be suspended once the system was scheduled to be installed. The CU TAP also prepared training materials for the homeowner, including a diagram of an aerobic system, how it works, and best practices for operation and maintenance. In addition to sharing information on the Decentralized Water System loan assistance to ODEQ, CU staff provided two training sessions this past year in Oklahoma, focused on decentralized wastewater systems for ODEQ staff and the general public. 

Through the work with this homeowner, CU has established a relationship with the staff of ODEQ and is seen as a resource for others in the state with failing septic systems.  “Working with Communities Unlimited was a great experience that provided a solution to a longstanding issue DEQ, and the property owner had been dealing with,” said Ryan McIntosh, Environmental Programs Manager – Central Region for ODEQ. “It aided in assisting the individual with access to a septic system that eliminated the discharge of sewage into the environment. Communities Unlimited was the catalyst toward compliance that helped both parties achieve the desired outcomes. Their timely responses and willingness to help was a testament to their core values of truly wanting to improve the lives of people within the communities that they serve.” 

The ODEQ provides information on the CU Decentralized Water System Loan to homeowners needing assistance, in the hopes that their failing septic system issues can be resolved quickly to protect the environment. When homeowners in Oklahoma experience septic system issues, they can look to Communities Unlimited for assistance.  

This article was funded under RCAP’s EPA Treatment Works 4 – Compliance 23 – 26 grant.