Newsletter #5 for February 2013

Next week ten locations will host Tribal Utility Governance training events, workshops focused on utility management, financial and managerial capacity issues for personnel of tribally-owned and operated public water systems (PWS). Click here to register.

Northern Arizona - Flagstaff, AZ | Flyer
Southern Arizona - Scottsdale, AZ | Flyer
Northern California - Colusa, CA | Flyer
Central California - Fresno, CA | Flyer
Southern California - Valley Center, CA | Flyer
Montana - Great Falls, MT | Flyer
Nevada - Sparks, NV | Flyer
New Mexico - Santa Ana Pueblo, NM | Flyer
Oklahoma - Norman, OK | Flyer
South Dakota - Fort Pierre, SD | Flyer

Program participants that successfully complete all three TUG training course modules will receive a Certificate of Completion and are eligible to apply and test for a newly developed Tribal Utility Management Certification.

Thank you to Brian Bennon of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA) for providing this progress update.

The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA), the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) network, and SmallWaterSupply.org have partnered to conduct meeting forums and trainings regarding water utility management for Tribes that are located in the U.S. EPA Regions 6, 8, and 9. The purpose of this work is to improve the managerial, financial, and technical capacity of Tribal drinking water systems in order to sustainably deliver safe drinking water for their communities.

As part of this U.S. EPA grant funded project, the ITCA is creating a brand new certification—Tribal water utility management-level one (final title has not been officially chosen yet). This new certification is intended to create a standardized pathway for Tribal water professionals to advance into and ascend through the field of water utility management. Just like water operator certification, utility management certification will be based on set criteria for education and training, work experience, and written examination.

Click here to read the full progress report.

ITCA: Introductory Mathematics for Water and Wastewater Operators

February 26-27 | Payson, Arizona
The Introductory Mathematics for Water and Wastewater Operators training course covers the fundamentals of mathematics for both drinking water and wastewater system operators. Emphasis will be placed on the typical mathematical problems and formulas that are fundamental to everyday Level 1 water and wastewater operations. This course is divided into the following three components: (1) general mathematics review, (2) drinking water system mathematics, and (3) wastewater system mathematics. A training and reference booklet will be provided for this course.

State WARNs Give Rural Utilities a Helping Hand
We've talked before about the importance of state WARNs and mutual aid agreements, but what does that all mean in practical terms? Here, we highlight two state WARN programs that have provided resources when rural utilities needed help.

Environmental Justice Grant Awards Benefit Small Communities, Tribes
Water-related programs serving rural communities dominate list of environmental justice grant awards.

PrivateWellClass.org Helps Protect Groundwater
A new online private well class from the team behind SmallWaterSupply.org complements source water protection efforts in small communities and rural areas.

Visit our blog archive for additional articles.

More News from Around the Web

In each edition of this newsletter, we'll link to some of the most interesting and relevant news articles relevant to tribal water and wastewater systems.

USDA Funding Brings Clean Water, Sanitation, Into the Rural Village Homes of Alaska Natives - Collaborative program to phase out use of honey buckets in one rural Alaska community will see construction begin this summer.

Results Of Federal Effort To Clean Up Uranium Contamination - The USEPA announced progress on a coordinated five-year federal investment of more than $100M to address health risks posed by pervasive uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation.

Secretary Vilsack Confirms Support for Tribes at Meeting - The Tribal College Presidents noted that they have a strong relationship with USDA because Indian Country consists of over 72 million acres and 75 percent of it is agriculture or forestry based.

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