Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008 - (Page 12)

their citizens every day. Drinking water and wastewater quality are two critical elements in a rural community’s environment and its viability. Drinking water quality is one of the most pressing public health concerns in rural America and is essential for long-term economic stability. The Congressman’s bill ensures that the most helpful and the most environmentally beneﬁcial initiatives are available to rural communities. This approach is truly unique in the federal effort to protect the environment because it accomplishes progressive environmental protection with the support of the local community. Small communities comprise more than 90 percent of the water supplies in the states. However, due to a lack of economies of scale, it is often more difﬁcult for small towns to comply with federal rules, afford the latest technology and have access to technical experts.” Rural water associations’ technical assistance and compliance training (authorized in the Safe Drinking Water Act) ensures that federal regulations don’t overwhelm small and rural communities’ resources. It also allows small communities lacking technical resources access to assistance necessary to improve and protect their water resources. Rural water initiatives have been operating nationwide for the past three decades and have been the main source of compliance and assistance for small and rural communities to meet federal standards. Without these initiatives, effective implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act in rural areas would be nearly impossible. Small communities want to ensure quality water and stay in compliance. Typically, rural water funding represents less than 1 percent of the total federal spending for EPA’s environmental program management budget. The need for rural water assistance continues to increase with the expansion of federal water regulations, including arsenic, radon, operator certiﬁcation requirements, disinfection byproducts and the ground water rule, in addition to the over 90 EPA rules that are currently on the books. The list of communities that were assisted last year is available on the internet at: www.ruralwater.org/ report. To provide more explanation on what is typically needed in small communities for assistance, we have loaded examples of technical help in Minnesota: www.ruralwater.org/minnesota/ mnsigs.pdf. You can contact your state association for details on assistance provided in your state. Also available on the internet is a sample of the local support for the assistance in Minnesota (www.ruralwater.org/minnesota/ letters.pdf). Similar support exists in every state. Ruth Hubbard, executive director of the Minnesota Rural Water Association, said this type of legislation “ensures that the most helpful and the most environmentally beneﬁcial initiatives are available to rural Minnesota communities. This approach is truly unique in the federal effort to protect the environment because it accomplishes progressive environmental protection with the support of the local community. Small communities comprise more than 90 percent of the water supplies in Minnesota. 12 • Fourth Quarter 2008 http://www.zurn.com http://www.ruralwater.org/report http://www.ruralwater.org/report http://www.ruralwater.org/minnesota/mnsigs.pdf http://www.ruralwater.org/minnesota/mnsigs.pdf http://www.ruralwater.org/minnesota/letters.pdf http://www.ruralwater.org/minnesota/letters.pdf

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008

Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008 Contents From the President Rural Water: Where are We Headed? The Future of Water in America Bank Collateral Controls in Nervous Times Bottle of Water or Billion Dollar Bully? Aqua Chocolate No Mas Why Even Small Water Systems Should Have Personnel Policy Manuals Safe Drinking Water Regulatory Update 2008 NRWA Industry Event Throwing My Loop Advertisers.com Index to Advertisers From the CEO

Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.