Description: Managing the physical infrastructure of a wastewater utility is a daunting task. A Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) can help bridge the gap between the planning process and the budget process for wastewater utilities. The purpose of a CIP is to identify and prioritize necessary capital improvement projects, develop detailed cost estimates, and identify and forecast funding sources. This workshop will provide an introduction to CIPs for small wastewater utilities and provide resources for initiating your own CIP process.

You will learn how to:

• Review principles of environmental finance and assessing utility financial condition
• Understand the role of CIPs
• Provide guidance for initiating a CIP process and working with CIP consultants
• Review sample CIPs

Trainer: Kristen Downs, PhD, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

Certificate:  We will provide a certificate of attendance to all eligible attendees. To be eligible for a certificate, you must attend the entire training and register and attend using your real name and unique email address. It is the attendee’s responsibility to self-submit for Continuing Professional Contact Hours (CPE’s).

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving wastewater systems

Partners:

The post VA Training | Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Development for Small Wastewater Systems first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post VA Training | Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Development for Small Wastewater Systems appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Location: University of North Georgia, Professional & Continuing Education Room #101; 25 Schultz Avenue, Dahlonega, GA 30533

Description: Running a small system can be challenging. Along with meeting regulatory obligations and satisfying customer expectations, you may have issues with aging infrastructure, lack of personnel, and limited financial resources. Furthermore, small systems often cost more to operate per capita than large systems because of economy of scale. In this workshop you will learn financial management and rate setting strategies to help improve your financial sustainability. There will also be a session of funding and financing opportunities in the state of Georgia.

You will learn how to:

• Use financial benchmarks to evaluate your system’s financial performance and plan for financial sustainability
• Understand asset management concepts and techniques for long-term financial performance
• Rate-setting strategies and concepts for zero cost recovery
• Understand how financial sustainability influences access to grant and funding opportunities

Trainers: Melanie Sanchez, Project Director; and Emma Copenhaver, Project Analyst, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

CEs: This course is approved for 6 Management and Safety (MS) points by the Georgia State Board of Examiners for Certification of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators and Laboratory Analysts.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post POSTPONED | GA Training | Managing Your Water System Into the Future first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post POSTPONED | GA Training | Managing Your Water System Into the Future appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: With limited revenues, aging infrastructure, and regulatory obligations to meet, a comprehensive approach to managing your wastewater system is vital. What information will be useful to you? How should you track your system assets? How does your aging infrastructure impact your service and expenses? Which asset(s) should you replace given limited funds and how should you prioritize replacement? How do you know how much money you might need? Asset management provides a framework to help you solve these problems, and more.

This training begins by covering Asset Management’s core components and the overall Asset Management thought-process, before focusing more specifically on the practical application of asset management concepts for data-informed decision-making using real-world examples.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding how the practical implementation of asset management core components benefits wastewater systems dealing with aging infrastructure
• Understand how data can be used to define and track a utility’s mission and goals
• Discuss techniques, tools, and examples for developing asset inventories and what information should be included in them for robust decision making
• Know how to develop condition assessment scales and calculate asset criticality
• Understand how to effectively manage assets by tracking associated costs and activities

Trainer: Dawn Nall, Research Engineer, Southwest Environmental Finance Center

CECs: This training has been approved for 5.5 hours of Wastewater Operator/Apprentice Continuing Education Credits by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving wastewater systems

Partners:

The post IN Training | Asset Management for Indiana Wastewater Systems first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post IN Training | Asset Management for Indiana Wastewater Systems appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop rate-setting and benchmarking objectives
• Determine the cost of providing water service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Learning how to communicate with Board Members

Trainer: Anna Patterson, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

CEUs: This training has been approved for 2.0 continuing education credit hours for water and wastewater operators by the TCEQ.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post TX Online Training | Setting the Right Rates for your System first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post TX Online Training | Setting the Right Rates for your System appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding the components of utility management
• Thinking critically about financial and human resources for the future of your system
• Communicating your plans and financial needs to decision-makers and the public

Trainers: Kristen Downs, PhD, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center and Patrick Lynch, JD, MPA, Program Manager, Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center

Continuing Education Credits: This training has been approved for 2.0 Water and Wastewater Operator Training Contact Hours (TCHs) by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post MA Online Training | Managing Your Water System Into the Future first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post MA Online Training | Managing Your Water System Into the Future appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: You work hard to provide safe, quality drinking water to your customers at fair rates. But how are your finances? In this training, we will discuss the importance of strategies for full-cost recovery in the context of long-term planning. You will learn about the importance of a realistic revenue requirement, different approaches to pay for capital improvements, how to track and benchmark financial performance, rate design, and additional management and communication considerations for financial sustainability. This workshop will provide you with the tools to improve the fiscal health of your utility without compromising service or deferring maintenance. You will learn how to:

• Understand the importance of a realistic revenue requirement and different rate design considerations
• Plan for future capital costs and consider different funding strategies (e.g., pay-as-you-go, save-in-advance, borrow and pay later, grants)
• Calculate key financial performance benchmarks
• Design appropriate rate structures
• And more!

Presenter: Dr. Kristen Downs, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at UNC

Certificate: This webinar has NOT been submitted for continuing education credit approval. We can provide a certificate of attendance to eligible attendees but cannot guarantee it will meet your PDH or CEU requirements.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners: 

The post Webinar | Long-Term System Planning: Thinking Outside the Pipes first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post Webinar | Long-Term System Planning: Thinking Outside the Pipes appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluating your system’s current financial sustainability
• Understand how depreciation can be used as a tool for financial sustainability planning
• Matching your system’s priorities to rates strategies
• Pricing your wastewater rates for full-cost recovery

Trainer: Andrew Waters, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center

CEUs: This training is approved for 0.3 Wastewater CEUs by the Utah Division of Water Quality.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving wastewater systems

Partners: 

The post UT Training | Financial Management for Sustainable Wastewater Operation first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post UT Training | Financial Management for Sustainable Wastewater Operation appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Trainer: Hope Thomson, Project Director; and Alicea Easthope-Frazer, Project Director, UNC Environmental Finance Center 

CEs: This workshop has been approved for 2.0 Continuing Education Hours (CEs) for Maryland superintendents.

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water or wastewater systems
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners:

The post MD Online Training | Systems Operations and Rate Setting for Elected Officials first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post MD Online Training | Systems Operations and Rate Setting for Elected Officials appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: This webinar will discuss how to think about water and wastewater systems as a financial entity and will examine the key financial indicators that allow systems to make informed decisions in planning and investment. Participants will learn how to calculate and interpret a system’s operating ratio, debt service coverage ratio, current ratio, and days of cash on hand. We will also discuss how funders use these numbers in deciding whether or not to loan systems money needed for capital improvements.  

Learning Objectives:

• How to incorporate good financial practices when setting budgets
• Learn how to calculate and interpret basic financial benchmarks
• Learn how to plan for current and future capital investment needs

Presenters: Kristen Downs, Project Director, and Anna Patterson, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina

Cost: Complimentary.

Please Note: This webinar has NOT been submitted for approval of continuing education credit. We can provide a certificate of attendance to eligible attendees, but cannot guarantee it will meet your PDH or CEU requirements. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems

Partners: 

The post Webinar | Financial Benchmarking for Small Water and Wastewater Systems first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post Webinar | Financial Benchmarking for Small Water and Wastewater Systems appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.

Description: Ever wonder why your NPDES permit looks the way it does?  Or why your facility has a different set of effluent limits than a neighboring facility? This webinar will go into detail about the regulatory requirements and the thought process a regulator will go through to develop an NPDES permit. Topics covered include:

• A Very Brief History of the NPDES Program
• NPDES Permit Applications
• NPDES Permit Limit Development
• NPDES Permit Components
• NPDES Public Involvement

Note:  This webinar will focus on publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), but also provide insights on industrial dischargers. Specifics of stormwater permitting will not be covered.

Presenter: Mike Tate, Professional Engineer, Wichita State University Environmental Finance Center 

Cost: Complimentary.

Please Note: This webinar has NOT been submitted for approval of continuing education credit. We can provide a certificate of attendance to eligible attendees, but cannot guarantee it will meet your PDH or CEU requirements. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving wastewater systems

Partners: 

The post Webinar | Making the Sausage – How Your NPDES Permit is Developed first appeared on Environmental Finance Center Network.

The post Webinar | Making the Sausage – How Your NPDES Permit is Developed appeared first on Environmental Finance Center Network.