More information about Asset Management and Building TMF Capacity in water and wastewater utilities here: https://swefc.unm.edu/home/resource/kancap-water-management-manual/
Importance of Utility Boards and TMF Education
Utility boards and council members serve as stewards to one of America’s most important public health assets, water and wastewater utilities. We often take for granted our ability to simply turn on the faucet and flush the toilet and know that the water is safe to drink and that the wastewater is processed effectively. Water and wastewater utility board members play an important and overlooked role in ensuring these services. For board members to effectively serve in this role, they need to know the “TMFs” of water utilities and understand their responsibilities in overseeing their water utility.
TMF refers to the technical, managerial and financial capacities that are essential to the safe and effective operation of a utility. Here are some key components of each that board members should know and be familiar with.
Technical Capacity for Water and Wastewater Systems
Technical capacity refers to the ability of the utility to reliably produce and deliver an adequate supply of water that meets all drinking water standards. For board members of water and wastewater utilities, this would refer to the ability of the wastewater to be processed and meet all discharge standards. Employment of licensed professional operators is critical to this. Hiring and retaining licensed operators and other professional staff can be a daunting task for some systems. Professional staff are in high demand in many parts of the country and operators in small systems are often recruited away to higher paying positions. Plus, the water workforce is rapidly nearing retirement in many systems. So water board members should focus on retention of existing staff through proper salaries, benefit and other perks. Board members should also remember that licensed operators require continuing education credits in order to maintain their license, so budget accordingly for these expenses.
Other important facets of technical capacity include ensuring an adequate water source, both in terms of quantity and quality, maintaining sufficient funding for operations and maintenance, and ensuring that the infrastructure needed to maintain regulatory compliance is available to the utility. A system with inadequate infrastructure or inadequate funding for operations and maintenance will fall out of regulatory compliance no matter how skilled the operators.
Financial Capacity for Water and Wastewater Systems
Financial capacity is the ability of the utility to meet both its immediate financial needs and to plan for its long-term financial needs. Water utility boards set policies and procedures to ensure the financial health and integrity of water utilities. Policies that ensure financial control are essential. For example, separation of duties is important for utilities. Individuals that accept money for bills should not also be responsible for the overall accounting of these funds. Similarly, there should be oversight and validation staff that are working with the disbursement of utilities funds. Boards that develop and enforce financial control policies and procedures can ensure that their utility avoids embarrassing and potentially illegal activities that might erode the public’s trust in the utility and lose money for the utility.
Managerial Capacity for Water and Wastewater Systems
Managerial capacity refers to the management structure of the public water system, including ownership accountability, staffing and organization, and effective linkages to customers and regulatory agencies. A key component of this for water utility board members is setting policies for their utility. These include policies for personnel management, purchasing, contracting, customer service and other general policies affecting the overall management of the utility. Water utility boards are encouraged to evaluate their policies and ensure that they provide guidance in the current workforce. For example, has your water utility updated its policies and practices associated with employees leaving the utility? Does your utility immediately close out any electronic access to important plant systems (such as SCADA systems) for these employees? This is important to prevent disgruntled employees and others from gaining improper access to essential operating systems.
Some other key aspects of managerial capacity include compliance with each state’s open meetings and open records laws and regulations. Boards and councils must ensure that their meetings are held in compliance with these requirements and that the public can request information on records, meeting minutes, and other information sources used by the utility board and the utility. Maintaining public records is an important task for the board and the utility.
Other key aspects of financial controls are evaluating rates and rate structures to ensure that the utility is covering its expenses and hopefully setting aside some funding for reserve accounts. Some water boards are reluctant to conduct rate studies and face the true financial situation of their water utility. By avoiding rate studies and potential rate increases, water utility boards will likely pass on burdensome headaches to future boards and utility customers.
More Resources for Water and Wastewater Boards
While all of these tasks and responsibilities sound foreboding, there are plenty of resources and assistance for water utility board members that can help them steer a course for success. Technical assistance is available from several sources including your state agency overseeing drinking water and wastewater services. Your local state agency staff are a great resource. They oversee many different community’s water utilities and typically freely share their expertise and knowledge with water operators and utility boards.
Additional assistance, including training and individualized assistance, is available from several sources including your Environmental Finance Center, Rural Water Associations and organizations such as Midwest Assistance Providers and Communities Unlimited. Many of these technical assistance organizations receive funding from federal and state agencies and other sources specifically for this purpose and in many instances their assistance will be free of charge.
Safe drinking water and wastewater processing is essential to our nation’s economy, security, and our future. Utility board members, most of which serve voluntarily without compensation, help keep our nation running. Arming them with the knowledge they need to assist their utilities is critical to the success of public water and wastewater systems.