The Connector - Spring 2008 - (Page 12)

Spring 2008 RWAU Rural Water News RWAU Board Holds 1st Quarter Meeting The RWAU Board of Directors met February 25, 2008 at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah to hold their first quarterly meeting of the year. All members, with the exception of one, were present. The board discussed or took action on the following items: • Proposed changes to the National Rural Water Association Conference • Plans for the 2008 Northern Conference • Board training • Heard a report on the February legislative trip to Washington DC • Heard plans for the 2008 Water Rally in Washington DC • Met with new staff members and reviewed proposed staffing changes • Reviewed the 2008 budget • Recapped 2007 finances • Approved the EPA Training Grant • Heard standing committee reports This meeting is held each year immediately prior to the Association’s Annual Conference in St. George. At the end of the meeting, the Board addressed a number of items related to the planning and structure of the Conference. An Ounce of Prevention: School Water Fairs By Erin Borger, Groundwater Technician It’s that time of year again! Schools across the state are participating in water fairs, educating Utahns about a variety of water-related topics. These fairs, assemblies and classroom presentations are educating youth about important issues that are critical in the West. Water conservation, the hydrologic cycle, watersheds, wetlands, wastewater processes and other subjects are presented to kids with the intention not only to educate the youth, but in hopes that they will take the lessons home and inform their parents. This kind of public outreach is an excellent way to spread the word about water issues. If your city or town isn’t participating in a water education program, we urge you to consider the benefits! Even a half hour presentation can inspire best management practices among communities. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! For information on classroom presentation topics, or if you would like to invite Rural Water to your school or town, please contact us at 801-756-5123. mayors and elected officials, office personnel and small system employees— not to mention more vendors than we could handle attending from all across the State. Here are some of the highlights: Exhibit Hall With the exhibit hall packed to the gills and spilling into the hall, the outside patio and anywhere else we could fit them, our exhibit hall had more than enough to offer anyone—and that’s without being able to fit everyone in who wanted to exhibit! The record number of exhibitors this year (142 vendors filling 198 booth spaces) meant an exciting exhibit hall full of the latest in the products and services available to the water and wastewater systems of Utah. And most of the exhibitors have already signed up to come back next year so we are well on our way to another great show in 2009! Training Sessions Over 60 training sessions were offered this year in the areas of water, wastewater, office personnel, management and small systems. There were also two different courses offered for operator certification—one in water and one in wastewater. The certification training was geared for small systems and Level I, but testing was offered in all areas. Seven simultaneous training sessions covering a wide variety of topics were held over the course of the week for all of our attendees, including 30 ways to avoid career suicide, conflict resolution, UT-Warn, basic math, water rates, water rights, the new aquifer protection program, project funding and basic computer skills…to name a few! Hopefully, everyone came away with something useful to take back to their system. New Incident Response Protocols RWAU and the Utah Division of Homeland Security have devised a series of protocols to be used in a situation where water or wastewater security has been breached. Not only is it necessary to get the breached facility back on-line, but it is also necessary to protect the area as a crime scene. The protocols will eventually be available to systems and to law enforcement in a form which can be posted in facilities to remind operators and first responders of what steps to follow. For a copy of the protocols please contact the RWAU office. The Connector 2008 Annual Conference: Busting at the Seams! Maybe it was the snow. Maybe it was Spring fever. Maybe it was the great Conference line-up for 2008. But whatever the reason, we had more people than ever turn out for the 2008 Annual Conference in February. Over 1,700 members, vendors and speakers contributed to the record-breaking 2008 Rural Water Annual Conference held February 26–29 at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah. We had a great turnout of water and wastewater operators, 12 Golf Scramble One hundred forty-seven golfers braved the 70 degree and sunny

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Connector - Spring 2008

The Connector - Spring 2008 Table of Contents President's Message Executive Director's Comments Letters From Readers Legislative Update RWAU Board and Staff Rural Water News Bees on the Pipeline, Jim Watts How Important are our Public Works People? Curtis Ludvigson A "What" Protection Plan? Erin Borger Meter Reading by Radio Communication, Terry Smith Advanced Distribution, Chuck Jeffs Where in Utah?

The Connector - Spring 2008

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