Description: Small wastewater systems face unique challenges, from aging infrastructure and staffing shortages to limited budgets and higher per capita costs. Meeting regulatory obligations and customer expectations can be daunting, but collaboration offers a powerful solution. This training explores how partnerships, peer-to-peer exchange, and regional approaches can help small systems overcome these obstacles. Participants will learn about various collaboration models, including informal information sharing, shared resources, mutual aid agreements, and regionalization strategies. Participants will be equipped with actionable strategies to begin fostering successful collaborations and enhancing their system’s capacity to meet community needs.

Learning Objectives:

• To Identify common challenges faced by small wastewater systems and how partnerships can address them.
• Describe various regionalization models and collaboration approaches, including their benefits and implementation steps.
• Participate in knowledge sharing and develop strategies to overcome barriers to collaboration.
• Develop a framework for a regional emergency response network, including communication protocols and mutual aid commitments.
• Formulate an action plan for initiating or enhancing collaboration with other utilities.

Trainers: Brandy Espinola, Climate and Sustainability Program Director and Danish Kumar, Climate Change Program Manager, University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center

CEUs: This training is approved for 0.1 Wastewater continuing education credit by the Washington Department of Ecology.

Who Should Attend: