WASTEWATER TECHNICIANS
Wastewater technicians help to improve and maintain financial sustainability through education and tech assistance, assisting rural and economically impacted communities. We are able to provide access to the Wastewater Technician to serve the needs of our members in cooperation with another State Association at this time. This program is fully funded by the USDA and is available at no cost to members of our Association.
- Providing assistance to rural, unincorporated small municipal systems, tribal systems, and incorporated municipal systems under 10,000 population
- Travels throughout the state to offer on‑site technical assistance
- Supply assistance in all areas of operations, maintenance, management, security, finances, loan application, health, and environmental issues
- Guarantees the type of assistance that offers training rather than “fixing”
- Successfully prioritize requests to ensure our most at-risk wastewater systems are tackled first; assess both health, social, and economic concerns.
- Reviews new technical standards set and proposed by both public and private organizations
- Responds to inquiries from facilities, consumers, governmental agencies, and others regarding technical matters Learn More
SOURCE WATER PLANNING
Rhode Island Rural Water Association’s USDA-funded Source Water Protection Program serves small drinking water systems and their communities with the development and implementation of local source water protection plans. A source water protection plan is a local initiative designed to identify threats to drinking water quality and quantity. It also helps establish an action plan to prevent the deterioration of water resources.
Tenets of plan development:
- Identify source water and watershed planning boundaries
- Establish a planning team and collaborators
- Community engagement and stakeholder participation
- Evaluate and document current and future threats to quality and quantity
- Develop measures to mitigate and prevent threats
- Produce a written plan available to the public
Other program services and topics:
- Community education
- Emergency response
- Climate change adaptation
- Contaminants of emerging concern
- RIRWA’s Source Water Protection Program collaborates closely with local and state governments. Our plans often require close collaboration with RIDEM and RIDOH. Source water protection and watershed-based plan development are often a prerequisite for state and federal funding for water quality improvement. Learn more
EPA TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING SPECIALIST
- Coordinates and provides state-approved training for water systems and their employees on a large variety of topics.
- Available to assist with system-specific technical assistance issues not associated with formalized training opportunities.
- This program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and trainings run through the program; technical assistance is available at no cost to members of our association. Learn more
CIRCUIT RIDER
- Provides rural and small municipal water systems with on-site technical training and assistance to ensure cost-effective operations and sustainable utility management.
- Types of services available include: Leak Detection, Emergency response, Treatment process assistance, Operational troubleshooting and assistance, Rate Setting Studies, among many more.
- This service is funded by a long-term contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Utilities Service, and is available at no cost to you as a member of the association. Learn more
Apprenticeship Program
RIRWA works in partner with Building Futures RI to bring more trades workers into the water systems industry. We are currently looking for apprentices, no experience needed! Learn more