A Summary of Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems
Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems (WARWS) is a member driven, non-profit
Association, affiliated with National Rural Water Association (NRWA). WARWS, NRWA and
it's other state affiliates comprise the largest utility membership organization in the nation
representing over 22,000 small and rural water and wastewater systems.
Wyoming Rural Water
The mission of WARWS is to provide the assistance necessary to meet the needs of our membership
and to ensure the protection of Wyoming's water - our most precious resource. By providing on-site,
one-on-one technical assistance and training we can help the State's operators with their commitment
and their profession of providing "Quality on Tap!".
Governance
A volunteer five-member Board of Directors serving three-year terms governs our Association.
These directors, who represent the five regions across the state, are elected during the annual
business meeting held in conjunction with our technical conference. One director is elected to
be our National Director and represent Wyoming at the national level.
Help Available
The Wyoming association has grown from one Circuit Rider in 1987 to the present nine full-time
employees.
The Training and Technical Assistance Program began in 1989. Water and wastewater operators
must be certified and undergo continuous education. This program organizes professional
training programs for operators and system decision-makers. Training courses are directed
toward everyday problems that systems encounter particularly items that pertain to the Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Courses are submitted to Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
for certification of contact hours to be credited to operators' state license requirements.
Our Circuit Riders (CR) travel the State answering requests for help from a large portion of
approximately 778 public water systems in the state. Typical tasks that the CR is asked to perform are:
- Training operators in the operation and maintenance of their system.
- Developing a system of maintenance.
- Helping take required tests and teach operators the correct testing methods.
- Assisting with specific maintenance problems.
- Testing of meters in the field.
- Leak and line location.
- Giving advice on rate structures and forming new districts.
- Training on record keeping.
- Reducing cost of power and water losses.
- Any other service to help the water system succeed.
The Wastewater Program was started in June of 1993. The WW technician performs many of the
same functions as the CR, specializing in the wastewater field. With approximately 200 wastewater
systems in the state, he is able to visit these systems with greater frequency. A large part of
this assistance is directed toward the treatment of wastewater collection systems and the maintenance
of lagoons. This program also facilitates training for Wyoming's wastewater operators.
Two WARWS programs work hand-in-hand to ensure a safe and abundant supply of drinking water
now and in the future for Wyoming's residents. The Groundwater/Wellhead Protection
(GW/WHP) program. It was started in April 1994. The program incorporates a five-step plan with
small systems to start GW/WHP programs in their systems. It begins with the formation of a committee
to identify problems and possible contamination sites and works to form a plan for emergency delivery
of water in case of unsafe water conditions.
Our newest program is the Source Water Protection Program. Funded by a congressional
appropriation through a 1996 amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act, the program expands upon
the efforts of Wellhead Protection to provide water protection planning to both groundwater and
surface water systems. The program is a multi-jurisdictional, multi-barrier approach to water
protection accomplished through the formation of partnerships of all water users in the
designated protection area.
Membership income allows our state association to send a quarterly newsletter, with a circulation of
over 2600 to operators, systems and interested people in and out of the state.
Additional activities are: NRWA in-service training, our annual technical conference held in March
each year, which draws numerous exhibitors of new products for the water and wastewater
field, attendance of the National Technical Conference each year in September, the Water Rally
in Washington, DC where our Board of Directors meet with our Senators and Representatives to
discuss issues pertaining to the water and wastewater industry. An example of the work that
has been done is the Senate and House Bills, which revised the SDWA, saving hundreds of thousands
of dollars for small systems in testing and monitoring alone.
Although we primarily work with systems that are eligible for RUS funding, we respond to all calls
and lend assistance where possible. If we can be of assistance to you, please give us a call.