On Tap Magazine - Fall 2001

National Drinking Water Clearinghouse
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6064
Morgantown, WV
26506-6064

News and Notes

Cost of Water Is Up in Selected Countries
A survey conducted by a private energy and telecommunications consulting firm found the average price for water in the world increased by 3.8 percent over the past year. The survey, conducted by NUS Consulting Group, found the world price for water averaged 76.4 cents per cubic meter (264 gallons). The survey polls various local water prices in 14 countries located in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia.

According to the survey, Germany led all nations with an average price of $1.52 and South Africa had the lowest price at 34 cents. Every country reported increased costs for water with the exception of the Netherlands who showed a decrease of 0.8 percent in pricing over the past year.

The U.S. was 10th on the survey with an average price of 52 cents per cubic meter, according to the report. “We are finding that water pricing around the world is increasing at a steady rate and all indications are that even larger increases are on the horizon,” says Richard Soultanian, NUS co-president. “Issues, such as scarcity of supply and improving water quality, are coming to the forefront in most countries, and as such, prices are bound to dramatically increase to meet these challenges.”

Countries surveyed and their average water price
(in U.S. dollars), per cubic meter included:

1. Germany, $1.52
2. Denmark, $1.46
3. United Kingdom, $1.11
4. The Netherlands, $0.98
5. France, $0.93
6. Belgium, $0.75
7. Italy, $0.62
8. Spain, $0.58
9. Finland, $0.53
10. United States, $0.52
11. Sweden, $0.51
12. Australia, $0.48
13. Canada, $0.37
14. South Africa, $0.34

For more information about this survey, write to NUS Consulting Group, International Reports and Survey Division,
One Maynard Drive, Park Ridge, NJ, 07656.

EPA Releases Capacity Development Reports
Are you interested in what other states have done toward implementing the capacity development provisions of the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments? If so, you’ll want to read two new reports issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The first, titled State Programs to Ensure Demonstration of Technical, Managerial, and Financial Capacity of New Water Systems, provides a detailed summary of each state’s program, as well as appendix tables designed to help compare the various approaches different states have taken.

The second, titled State Strategies to Assist Public Water Systems in Acquiring
and Maintaining Technical, Managerial, and Financial Capacity, provides a synopsis of each state’s strategy and the major elements of their strategy designs.

“I believe that these reports will be of great use to the states in better understanding the range of approaches taken by their peers,” says William Diamond, director of EPA’s Drinking Water Protection Division. “As these reports document, states have done much good work to date in the area of capacity development. Our future challenge is one of continuous improvement and further enhancement of strategies to achieve the public health protection objectives
of the SDWA.”

To order copies of these reports, write to the National Service Center for Environmental Publications, PO Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH, 45242-2419 or call (800) 490-9198. Information is also available on EPA’s Web site at www.epa.gov.

NESC Adds Services
The National Environmental Services Center (NESC)—the umbrella organization that oversees the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse, the National Small Flows Clearinghouse, the National Environmental Training Center for Small Communities, and the National Onsite Demonstration Program—recently added two new services: the Healthy Communities Program and the National Tribal Environmental Network.

The Healthy Communities Program will help small communities who want to solve infrastructure problems by providing engineering assessments before the community hires a firm. “NESC will provide communities with an objective engineering opinion and shepherd them through the analysis process until a design and plan of action are established,” says John Mori, NESC director.

The National Tribal Environmental Network (NTEN) offers no-cost Web site hosting for tribes and tribal environmental organizations. “If a tribe has a Web site ready—or wants to develop a Web site—we can help you host it at no cost,” says Mori. “For tribes needing assistance developing a site, NTEN has a template that can be used to develop a Web presence at low cost.”
NESC serves as a national repository for small community water, wastewater, and environmental training information. The center offers toll-free assistance hotlines, free magazine and newsletter subscriptions, Web sites, online discussion groups and listservs, free and low-cost products, databases, and training curricula.

For more information about the Healthy Communities Program, visit the NESC Web site at www.nesc. wvu.edu. For more information about the National Tribal Environmental Network, visit www.nten-nesc.org. To learn more about either of these programs, write to the National Environmental Services Center, West Virginia University, PO Box 6064, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6064 or call toll-free (800) 624-8301.

RUS Poverty Rate Unchanged; Others Decrease
Interest rates for Rural Utilities Service (RUS) water and wastewater loans have been announced. The poverty rate is unchanged, while the intermediate and market rates decreased. RUS interest rates are issued quarterly at three different levels: the poverty line rate, the intermediate rate, and the market rate. The rate applied to a particular project depends upon community income and the type of project being funded.

To qualify for the poverty line rate, two criteria must be met. First, the loan must primarily be used for facilities required to meet health and sanitary standards. Second, the median household income of the area being served must be below 80 percent of the state’s non-metropolitan median income or fall below the federal poverty level. As of April 1, 2001, the federal poverty level was $17,650 for a family of four.

To qualify for the intermediate rate, the service area’s median household income cannot exceed 100 percent of the state’s non-metropolitan median income. The market rate is applied to projects that don’t qualify for either the poverty or intermediate rates. The market rate is based on the average of the Bond Buyer index.

The rates for the third quarter of fiscal year 2001, which apply to all loans issued between October 1 and December 31, 2001, are:
• poverty line: 4.5 percent (unchanged from the previous quarter);
• intermediate: 4.75 percent (down 0.125 percent from the previous quarter); and
• market: 5.00 percent (down 0.25 percent from the previous quarter).

RUS loans are administered through state Rural Development offices, which can provide specific information concerning RUS loan requirements and applications procedures. For the phone number of your state Rural Development office, contact the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse at (800) 624-8301 or (304) 293-4191. The list is also available on the RUS Web site at www.usda.gov/rus/ water/states/usamap.htm.

Tribes, MTAC Partner for Water Education
Many Great Plains Native American communities have established regulatory expertise, experienced staff, and public support in complying with Clean Water Act regulations. But, many tribes are just beginning to develop programs related to Safe Drinking Water Act mandates. Tribal communities haven’t always had access to any significant training resources.
At the same time, primary and secondary school teachers in these communities want to include water conservation and ecology lessons in their science curricula, but say they often feel ill-prepared to do so. In the last two years, the Midwest Technology Assistance Center (MTAC) at the University of Illinois helped to overcome some of these stumbling blocks.
MTAC worked with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to help the Haskell Indian Nations University and four other Midwest tribal colleges expand their extension service outreach programs for drinking water technical assistance and education
in their surrounding communities.

During 1999 and 2000, the extension staffs of the partner colleges completed 11 educational projects.
The objectives of the “Technical Assistance and Education for the Native American Nations in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota” project were to:
• establish technical assistance and education agreements with Nebraska Indian Community College (Omaha and Santee Sioux tribes), Sinte Gleska University (Rosebud Sioux tribe), Ogalala Lakota College (Ogalala Sioux tribe), and Little Priest Tribal College (Winnebago tribe);
• identify the most significant drinking water issues for each of the partner colleges;
• hold an initial workshop to help participants from the tribal colleges to prepare individualized workshops for community water treatment personnel;
• develop content for the workshops;
• present drinking water educational activities to treatment personnel, regulatory agency employees, teachers, students, and other interested community members.

Workshops for drinking water personnel included lab technician training for operators, training needs assessments for tribal utilities, microbiological treatment techniques and pesticide contamination in water, and drinking water regulations for Native American nations.

To help tribal communities learn about drinking water issues, the partner colleges held six different educational activities and workshops for teachers and community members. Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) training helped participating teachers gain confidence about drinking water issues to take back to the classroom.

Through the “World of Water in Winnebago” in December 2000, children who attended learned about water sources, treatment and distribution, contamination and monitoring for quality, and they learned about job opportunities in the drinking water field.
Copies of the final report Technical Assistance and Education for the Native American Nations in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota may be obtained by writing MTAC, 2204 Griffith Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7495 or by calling (217) 333-9321.

Apply for an Innovation in Government Award
Applications are now being accepted for the 2002 Innovations in American Government Awards competition. The awards are sponsored by the Institute for Government Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The program—administered in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government and funded by the Ford Foundation—recognizes effective and creative examples of government at its best. In 2002, 15 finalists will receive $20,000 grants and five winners will receive awards of $100,000.

According to Brian Ellis, e-media and publications manager, every level and unit of government—federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial—within the U.S. is eligible. Award categories are: capital and environmental services; community and economic development; education and health care; management and governance; protective services; and social services. Applications are due in January 2002.

Over the last 15 years, water and wastewater projects have been among the award winners, including a water pollution control program in Fort Worth, Texas; a groundwater management code for the state of Arizona; and a wetland wastewater treatment project in Arcata, California.

For more information, and to receive an application, log onto www.innovations.harvard.edu or call (800) 722-0074.