ETC Hosts Certification Summit June 23 _^(6-29-05)

The ETC hosted a special summit on operator certification and testing. Steve Ballou, Executive Director of the national Association of Boards of Certification and ABC President-Elect Margaret Cross were in attendance. Bill Toomey from the WVBPH (along with other Health Department staff) also participated.

Members of the Exam Review Committees met with these officials to discuss the future of operator examination procedures in West Virginia. One option is for West Virginia to use validated national exams available from ABC.

Census Data Reports on Water/Sewer Bills _^(5-9-05)

An article in the recent AWWA Journal reveals some interesting data on the cost of water and sewer bills in West Virginia compared to national averages. The article stated nearly 718,000 household exist in WV with about 70% of them paying directly for water and sewer service. The average annual bill is $465/year or 2.22% of the average income.

The national average for a total of 103 million households was $476/year and 1.6% of the average income. Water and sewer service is most expensive in Alaska, Hawaii, California and Florida.

AWWA Materials Aadded to ETC Library _^(4-21-05)

The following items have recently been added to the library at the ETC. All of these materials are available free for loan by contacting the training center at (304) 372-7878.

1. Water Loss Control Manual (Book)
2. Principles & Practices of Water Supply Operators: Water Sources (Book)
3. Principles & Practices of Water Supply Operators: Water Transmission & Distribution (Book)
4. Principles & Practices of Water Supply Operators: Water Quality (Book)
5. Basic Science Concepts & Applications for Wastewater (Book)
6. Principles & Practices of Water Supply Operators: Water Treatment (Book)
7. Water Audits and Leak Detection (Book)
8. On the Job: Leak Detection (Video)

ACE – 05, 124th AWWA Annual Conference and EXPO _^(1-30-05)

June 12-16, 2005 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco CA

EPA Emergency Response Planning Workshop for Small and Medium Drinking Water Utilities _^(7-22-04)

The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002’ requires that drinking water utilities serving more than 3,300 people update or revise their Emergency Response Plans (ERP). The update should consider the various types of incidents that could occur as a result of malevolent acts (e.g. intentional contamination of water supplies, cyber attacks, physical assaults, intentional release of hazardous chemicals, etc.). The update should also address risks discovered during the utility’s Vulnerability Assessment that was mandated under the same Act.

This free, one-day workshop will include a discussion of the regulatory requirements to update the ERP and a review of EPA’’ official guidance for ERP development and upgrades. The course will also provide a comprehensive review of EPA’s recently released ‘Response Protocol Toolbox: Planning for and Responding to Contamination Threats to Drinking Water Systems.’ The Toolbox provides Detailed guidance for the utility’s response to a threat, or actual incident, of intentional contamination of a public water system. Additionally, the workshop will offer a description of some of the other tools EPA is providing to assist with utilities in selection of laboratories for analysis of emergency response samples and EPA’s ‘Water and Wastewater Security Product Guide.’

We have selected 9 cities to host the one-day workshops that will focus on small systems. The arrangements for facilities and the dates that these trainings will be held should be available in the next few weeks. Information on the one-day training can be found at http://www.horsleywitten.com/epa. This website will be updated with locations and dates, as well as the information needed to register for the training. We are trying to schedule this training to begin at the end of August and conclude towards the middle to December.

The 9 cities that we have chosen right now are:

• Chattanooga, TN
• Indianapolis, IN
• Minneapolis, MN
• Melbourne, FL (tentative for August 20th)
• Trenton, NJ
• Worcester, MA
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Salem, OR
• Albuquerque, NM
   

WV Section AWWA Receives Awards and Recognition _^(7-3-04)

Water for the People Certificate of Appreciation

AWWA Membership Retention Growth Award: Award

AWWA Research Foundation: Letter and Certificate

2004 Annual Conference Success! ^_(6-13-04)

The 2004 Annual Conference was a great success. We had 163 total attendees. The best attendance in several years. We had great attendance to our technical sessions. The rooms were full in most of our sessions.

Glade Springs Resort and their staff were very inviting and helpful in our needs.

Our attendee surveys are complete and we are currently gathering the information to plan our 2005 Conference. Please give us your ideas for a 2005 theme for our Joint Conference. In the meantime, we will be planning our next location for the Conference. As soon as that location has been determined, we will let you know.

Sincerely,

Pat Clark

Secretary/Treasurer

WVAWWA

EPA Satellite Training – Stage 1 Disinfectants &
Disinfection Byproduct Rule ^_(4-12-04)

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