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NYRWA News
The New York Rural Water Association Board and Staff would like to wish you and your families a happy holiday season and a new year filled with good health, happiness and success. Thank you to all of our members for your continued support. **Please note the office will be closed on Monday, December 25th and Monday, January 1st.
The NYRWA is accepting applications in anticipation of an opening for our Central & Western Region Water Circuit Rider Position. The purpose of the Circuit Rider Program is to provide on-site technical assistance to small rural-water systems (systems serving less than 10,000 customers) with issues ranging from leak detection, line location, treatment issues, regulatory compliance, emergency response plans, standard operating procedures, asset management plans and all forms of capacity development. SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES AND REQUIREMENTS: 2. Provides assistance in all areas of operations, maintenance, management, security, finance, public health and environmental issues. 3. Provides the type of assistance that offers "training" rather than "fixing." 4. Prioritize requests to ensure coverage of water systems with serious health or economic problems first. 5. Circuit Riders are required to attend (2) National Rural Water Association training events per year, typically held in June and September in various locations around the country. 6. Reviews new technical standards set and proposed by public and private organizations. 7. Develops informational magazine articles quarterly for publication. 8. Responds to inquiries from facilities, governmental agencies and others regarding technical matters. 9. Works closely with both the USDA, Rural Development Staff and NYS Department of Health personnel. 10. Accurately completes and submits daily activity logs and monthly reports in a timely fashion. 11. Eligible candidates must possess a NYS Water Operator Certification; preference will be given to applicants with a Grade IIB & D Certification. SALARY AND BENEFITS: - Flexible work schedule, you develop your own schedule, but must work 40 hours per week. - Salary contingent upon qualifications, experience and ability. - Health & dental insurance or a monthly stipend are provided. - 401K retirement plan HOW TO APPLY:
The New York Rural Water Association's 45th Annual Technical Training Sponsorship opportunities are available, please see the letter for details, and if interested, please complete the sponsorship form with your selection and email to Kimberly Bennett, or give Kimberly a call to discuss options. Please consider being a sponsor at this event!
As many of you know, each year, the NYRWA distributes one-time grants to five students across New York State valued at $500.00 to help defray the cost of tuition, books or room and board at an accredited institution of higher learning approved by the NYRWA. This is a member benefit, and we appreciate your assistance in ensuring students from your area have this opportunity to apply. In order to be eligible for a scholarship, applicants must complete the application form in its entirety and return it to the NYRWA by the entry postmark deadline, February 1, 2024. The pertinent information to apply is within the Official Rules, including the requirement to include an essay and student transcripts to be eligible. The application can be found here: https://nyruralwater.org/downloads/downloads-index, the link is on the right-hand side. Please be sure to share this application with anyone that will be attending college in the fall of 2024.
Have you received water and/or wastewater technical assistance from NYRWA? Have you attended NYRWA in-person or web-based training? Has your system benefited from a Source Water Protection Plan or Energy Efficiency Assessment from NYRWA? If so, WE NEED YOUR HELP! NYRWA is respectfully asking our system members to draft and submit letters of support for the services you have received. These letters are crucial, so we can deliver your message to our elected representatives that more needs to be done to fund water and wastewater infrastructure. Please, we need as many members as possible to draft the support letters on your letterhead and mail to our office at: NYRWA, Inc. Let's make this letter-writing campaign a huge success, please participate. We thank you in advance for your consideration. November 30, 2023 EPA Releases Proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) on November 30, 2023. As part of EPA’s initiative to strengthen the Lead and Copper Rule, the proposed LCRI, which is expected to be finalized in the fall of 2024, aims to replace all lead pipes in 10 years. “NRWA applauds EPA’s effort to protect public health by removing lead from our nation’s drinking water. We provide technical assistance, training and education to small rural-water systems every day as we work to meet the LCRI ambitious goals,” said NRWA CEO Matt Holmes. “As an inaugural member of the Get the Lead Out Partnership, NRWA and our state affiliates have been committed to this initiative from day 1 and look forward to reviewing the details of the LCRI and working with EPA to ensure our members are prepared to meet the challenges.” Key initiatives of the proposed LCRI include: 1. 100% lead pipe replacement in 10 years for the vast majority of public water systems. Only full-service line replacements will be allowed, and systems will be required to make multiple attempts to contact and gain access to private properties with lead service lines to fully complete replacement. 2. Locating legacy lead pipes. Currently, water systems are required to provide an initial inventory of their lead service lines by October 16, 2024. In the improvements, all systems would be required to update their inventories regularly, create a publicly available lead service line-replacement plan and identify the materials of all service lines of unknown material. 3. Key changes to tap sampling requirements. Systems would be required to collect first-liter and fifth-liter samples and use the higher of the two values when determining compliance with the rule. 4. The lead action level will be lowered from 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb, requiring systems to inform the public if this limit is exceeded, and to take action to lower exposure while continuing to replace all lead pipes. The existing trigger level would also be eliminated to simplify implementation. 5. Strengthening protections to lower near-term exposure – systems with multiple lead action level exceedances will be required to perform additional outreach and make certified filters to reduce lead available to customers. The agency estimates that the costs will be $2.1 billion to $3.6 billion per year for systems to come into compliance. Benefits are estimated at $9.8 billion to $34.8 billion per year. These are annualized figures over 35 years. EPA specifically noted that through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, systems have access to $15 billion specifically dedicated to this effort to help offset the costs of lead service line replacement. Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, stakeholders will have 60 days to provide written public comments. To submit comments, visit the Federal Register, Docket ID Number: EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0801. The agency will also be holding a public hearing on January 16, 2024, to allow the public to provide verbal comments. NRWA will be working through our Regulatory Committee to help craft and submit comments on behalf of our member systems to ensure that rural and small-water systems' perspectives are taken into account before the rule is finalized and implemented. To learn more about EPA’s proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, visit their website here. You can also view EPA’s announcement of the proposed improvements here.
Upcoming Training
Don't have time to spend traveling to sit in a class all day? The best place to receive renewal web-based training is at home or work, whichever your schedule allows. You can work at your own pace. SunCoast Learning Systems offers some great topics that will fit your certification requirement needs. Online courses are New York State-approved and offer the flexibility and convenience you are looking for. For more information, call 1-800-269-1181 or visit https://www.suncoastlearning.com/courses/ny.
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