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Entries for the 'Support' Category
Steve Wilson posted on November 28, 2011 07:39
This is the 3rd post covering the communication toolbox, a new tool available from CDC on how to prepare, deal with, and learn from situations where you need to (precautionary) or have to (mandatory) communicate with your customers to advise them of a drinking water situation in your community. The 1st blog post provided an overview of the toolbox, the 2nd blog post discussed the introduction section of the toolbox, which explained some of the basics about when and why you should communicate with the public. Today, we'll provide you with some suggestions they provide for small systems.
For Small Systems Using the Toolbox
The toolbox was written for water systems, both large and small. But, it was developed with both in mind. We've already mentioned that we think the toolbox is one of the most complete tools available to help you with communicating with the public during an emergency, and on page 13, they offer some suggestions for small systems, recognizing that sometimes small systems may not have the capacity to implement all of the suggestions listed in the toolbox. Basically, these are the things every small system should do to be prepared, regardless of the emergency.
1. Identify and prioritize specific tools or sections in the toolbox to use. The toolbox is worth going through, cover to cover, to really understand what it means to communicate with your customers and to be prepared in an emergency. In doing so, you will find many great ideas that will help you prepare, act, and recover from an emergency situation. Pick and choose what you think will work for your specific situation and within the capacity of your system and community.
2. Incorporate water advisory protocol planning into regular activities, such as sanitary surveys and updating emergency response plans. I'm sure some of you think this is "beyond" what you can do, and may not even have an emergency response plan in place for your system. That is a great place to start and there are some great templates available from RCAP and Rural Water that walk you through development of a plan. Do that first, and you will understand why its important to be prepared and think ahead, rather than react to an emergency. (call or email us, we can help, as can your local TA providers. See the links to the templates below).
3. Build water advisory protocols into regular communication, such as customer updates. Again, some of you may look at this and say, I never send stuff to my customers. Why not? When operators tell me their customers want "free" water, and don't value what they do, I tell them to start marketing to their customers, help them understand what a service you provide, how important safe water is to your community. Operators can't just do the technical stuff anymore, they have to engage their communities to understand the need and importance of safe water. Along with that is the importance of dealing with emergency situations.
4. Partner with local public health and neighboring water systems. Planning for an emergency means working with others outside your community. When a real disaster happens, you need to know what to do, who you can call, who you can rely on for help. You need to ask yourself, what does your community deserve? Doing it all on your own usually ends up hurting your community when a disaster occurs. It's the responsible thing to do, and best for your system and customers. This would also be a good time to mention your state's WARN program. Look into it, consider how it might benefit your community.
Getting Started
Remember these suggestions as you go through the toolbox. Find the pieces that you think will work for you. It states that many of the actions you can consider taking, as described in the toolbox, shouldn't require outside support from consultants or others. It also says building a network of partners and organizations to work with in an emergency is the key to success. We agree.
Should you have any questions, let us know. We will gladly help you navigate through the material and find resources that you can use with your customers for both emergency response and just for marketing the value of your water system.
Below are links to some of the resources mentioned above:
Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP)
National Rural Water Association (NRWA)
Water & Wastewater Agency Response Networks (WARN)
(click on the "WARN Regions" tab to find your state WARN program)
How To Run Your System Like A Business is a series at SmallWaterSupply.org, appearing on Monday.
Steve Wilson posted on October 12, 2011 09:24 
Both in June and recently, we wrote blog posts about the results of an operator survey published by the North Carolina Environmental Finance Center. This is another piece from their report dealing with operators suggestions for retention ideas.
Better Pay, Benefits Top The List
Below are the suggestions from operators as to what a utility could do to better recognize and retain them, as listed in the NCEFC survey results report.
- Higher Pay
- Increase Pay with Certification Level
- Improve/Include Benefits
- Pay for and Allow Attendance at Seminars/Workshops/Classes
- Cost of Living Increase
- Merit-Based Pay Increases
- Provide Incentives
- Certificate of Appreciation
- Hire More Staff
- Public Acknowledgement
- Pat on the Back
- Realize the Importance of Our Jobs
- Training of Board Members
- Increase Communication Between Board and Employees
- Become More Involved with Day-to-Day Operations
I want to talk about the last 4. Honestly, if community leaders did these 4 things, some of the salary and benefit issues would likely be more understandable to them, and the community as a whole would be more likely to develop sustainable practices.
They All Fit Together
To get the mayor and/or board to realize the importance of the operator's job, they need to communicate with the operator, become more involved in daily operations, and be trained on the issues and responsibilities they face. Maybe we have been going about this all wrong. Instead of just requiring training for board members, as some states now do, board members should also meet with the operator on a regular basis, say every other week on a weekday morning for breakfast. The operator can give an update on what has been happening, what issues he has been dealing with, what things he plans to ask the board to do and why.
In addition, each board member should spend a day each quarter working with the operator. They could help collect samples, help read meters, see how a backwash cycle is completed, order chemical, and anything else that would help them understand what goes into the operation of a water plant. I hear all the time that the problem with training board members is that they serve their two years, then someone new takes over. If a community had this sort of program in place, how long would it be before the list of supporters for the system grew well beyond the current board?
Steve Wilson posted on October 10, 2011 10:27
Back in June I wrote a post about perceptions of operators, boards, and customers based on work completed by the North Carolina Environmental Finance Center. They surveyed 300 operators in North Carolina on a number of topics. The post in June discussed how customers and town boards value or don't value their operators. Today, I wanted to highlight a little more from their report dealing with operator satisfaction.
Study Purpose
According to the report, one of the main reasons for completing the study was that so many small towns complain about their operators leaving. Turnover is high, and in this study they wanted to look at why. Here are some reasons they found:
- 32 left their last job for more money
- 32 left for more possibility of advancement
- 19 left for better benefits
- 12 retired
The other top 10 reasons given included plant closed/downsized; laid off; management/board issues; closer to home; career change; and better shifts. It's a common problem for small towns across the country that small town operators, move on to better paying jobs with benefits once they have the experience to be eligible for those jobs.
Common Problem
Last week I heard two different stories about operator retention that highlight the problems for small systems. A community of about 1000 hired a new operator to run their water and wastewater plants. He left 6 months later to take a meter reader position in a large community that paid more ($26/hr) and gave him the opportunity to get into operations after 2 years making ($30/hr). So he could not only make more, but he had a chance for advancement.
In the 2nd case, a trainer told the story of a large community that offers him free space to hold CEU classes for small town operators in the area. The community provides the space because they use the training events to recruit operators/workers for their system.
You Get What You Pay For
There is really one issue here, and that is how valuable is a safe, dependable water supply to your community. It all starts with your operator, who understands your system and has experience working with it. Without that person, the community can't sustain their water system. Small communities are fiercely independent and want to be left alone, but at the same time don't understand the costs required to stay that way.
What Can Be Done?
I don't believe there is a lot a small community can do to change this trend. The facts are simple: to retain an operator long term, they will need a competitive salary with benefits and a supportive work environment. Too many small communities don't value their water, so it follows that they don't understand the value of their operator. It is that understanding, by the community and its leaders, that will change things, nothing else.
That said, in our next post we will share some ideas for improving operator retention.
Steve Wilson posted on October 07, 2011 05:00
A little over a month ago, we let you know about a new tool available from CDC on how to prepare, deal with, and learn from situations where you need to (precautionary) or have to (mandatory) communicate with your customers to advise them of a drinking water situation in your community. In that blog post, we said we would provide more information about how this tool can help you. Today, we are going to cover some of the basics about when and why you should communicate with the public.
Why Send Out Advisories
You all know when its required, legally, to send out an advisory, most commonly a boil order, but there are a range of things that could result in an advisory, and more importantly, would be good business practice to do so. The thing you need to take away from this blog post is that you can use advisories for your benefit, to educate your customers and to engage them to take ownership of their water system.
Advisories are many times required, necessary, and bad news; they can also help you by helping your customers understand what is going on with your water system. The toolbox says there are 4 reasons to issue an advisory:
- to provide information,
- to encourage preparedness,
- to recommend action, and
- to meet public notification requirements.
Using Advisories For Your Benefit
Do you send out advisories to provide information? These are the advisories that don't require any customer action, but let them know that something is going on. The example the toolbox mentions (on page 10) is to let customers know about seasonal changes in taste. How many of you let customers know when you are flushing lines, or dosing chlorine, or when a large storm affects your influent water quality and taste or color? Or even when you are going to be working on a water main that might shut down a road in town? Or when you are drilling a new well? Some of you may not see the need to let your community know about all of these things, they would rather deal with the few phone calls they get. What you are missing is an opportunity to teach your community more about what you do.
Changing Public Opinion
Most of us would agree that in small towns, people tend to take their water for granted. Many pay very little for clean, safe water, but the public tends to view their water as a right, not a privilege. You, as the operator, understand this is not the case. You, as the operator, are also in the best position to change that public perception. Advisories are one way to do that. When you are drilling a new well, send out an advisory letting the community know they will be getting a new resource that will benefit them. Include the cost, why its necessary, what it will mean to the town. When chlorine is going to be an issue, send out an advisory. Let them know why its necessary, how it protects them from bacterial contamination, and offer them additional resources to learn more about it.
Be Proactive
It can't be stressed enough that the operator is the front line person for educating the public about their water system and why water costs what it does. The public needs to understand that though water itself is free, delivering clean, safe water to every home, park and building has a cost both in delivery and to maintain. You are the person who should be explaining those costs, every chance you get.
If You Need Help
If this is all new to you and you need help, let us know. We would be glad to find free materials for you to use with customers. We can also contact your local/regional technical assistance providers to get their suggestions and support of your efforts. If you really want to get serious about keeping your community in the loop, you could even start a Facebook page and post information regularly on different aspects of your system. We can help you set that up too (for free).
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