The Kentucky Rural Water Association, created by leaders from Kentucky's drinking water industry in 1979, has been providing training, technical assistance, advocacy, and a variety of other services and benefits to water districts, sanitation districts, water associations, and municipalities under 10,000 in population as an affiliate of the National Rural Water Association (NRWA). NRWA is a federation of forty-six state rural water associations that represent over 22,000 water and wastewater utilities throughout the continental United States. KRWA's basic training and technical assistance services are provided to all utilities that request help, regardless of membership status. Currently, KRWA claims 91% of its potential membership (333 voting members out of approximately 366 eligible members). Over the past twenty-one years, the Kentucky Rural Water Association staff has developed a reputation for possessing a wide range of practical and technical knowledge, displaying professionalism, and exhibiting genuine care and concern through its work with utility decision makers, managers, operators, and other personnel.
Funding for training and technical assistance programs comes in large part from NRWA-administered grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development (RD). A portion of the EPA monies is used to provide a variety of professional classroom training opportunities to utility decision makers, managers, operators, and others. These training seminars, conducted at locations throughout the state, offer continuing education credit hours toward the state's water and wastewater operator certification program requirements.
The balance of these federal funds is used to provide technical assistance. These technical assistance programs are performed by a group of trained professionals using a "circuit rider" approach. KRWA field staff travel the state, normally in response to a system request, providing on-site training and technical assistance on virtually every aspect of utility administration, operation, and/or management. Typical areas of assistance include: leak detection, treatment plant analysis, regulatory interpretation, trouble-shooting, one-on-one tutoring, water rate analysis, etc. Our federally funded field staff includes: two Water Circuit Riders, three Wastewater Technicians, Wastewater Trainer, Groundwater Technician and Training Specialist. The Education Services Director, KRA Circuit Rider, Small System Circuit Rider, and Sourcewater Protection Program are funded through our internal accounts.
RELATED PAGES:
| The utility members of the Kentucky Rural Water Association provide over 3
million Kentuckians with drinking water and wastewater treatment services. That
represents more than 78% of the total population of Kentucky. More than 29,000 technical assistance contacts have been made by KRWA program personnel since the association's inception in 1979. |