The SMART Goal,
Program Concepts and
Outcomes
A NESC and RCAP partnered,
EPA funded program using
Social Marketing techniques
to invigorate small
community audience
participation in the
development of wastewater
management focused source
water and well head
protection plans.
Framing the Approach:
The Overriding Principles In SMART
The SMART approach incorporates these principles:
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Community Resilience: the ability to withstand, prevent or protect
against threats and restore services, minimizing disruptions to life
and economy. Safe and secure sources of drinking water fosters
this.
Interrelatedness between drinking water and waste water requires
that activities in one area be conducted in recognition of the other.
Interdependency between safe drinking water, health and
economics exists in that; economy, quality of life and health depends
on the safety of the water supply which depends on the local
economy.
Social Marketing requires all sectors or audiences within the
community to actively engage in the source water protection
planning process for the planning and implementation to be viable.
“Buy in” is critical to success and innovative use of limited resources.
Financial Capacity of small community drinking water and wastewater systems is limited, while they are the most expensive to
operate per capita. This has led to compliance issues and local
inability to implement source water protection programs .
The EPA Grant Requirements:
Primary Goal and Objectives
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The SMART Goal is to stimulate voluntary planning
activities among small and very small Community and Non
Community public water supplies focusing on untreated
wastewater from failing septic and sewer systems.
The Rationale: By focusing on the greatest drinking water
threat first, a basis for action consistent with State Source
Water Assessment Plans is created.
The 3 Objectives of SMART are :
1. To build an understanding of the beneficial connection
between effective wastewater treatment and source water
protection.
2. Address the lack of human and financial resources by
facilitating partnerships with volunteer groups.
3. Prepare operators and local officials for the need to
develop contingency plans for supplying safe drinking water
in emergencies.
EPA Grant Requirements: Strategies for
Implementing SMART and Expected Outcomes
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EPA’s Strategic Plan sub-objective 2.1.1 requires that by 2011
90% of small community public water systems provide drinking water
that meets all applicable health based drinking water standards,
including effective treatment and source water protection.
The SMART program intends to assist EPA in meeting this objective
through a 3 pillar strategy of: 1.) Training; 2.) Technical
Assistance and 3.) Transfer of Results.
An Evaluation component is also incorporated into each strategy to
gage effectiveness.
In addition, referrals to sources of information on non wastewater
related contaminants and on contingency planning will be made.
State source water protection coordinators and appropriate local
officials will be advised of regional training and technical assistance
activities.
RCAP Staff, SMART Training Outcomes
Training delivery, Strategy 1, for 245 small
communities has the following outcomes:
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Increased awareness and understanding of source
water assessments by local officials.
Impart knowledge on conducting planning and
obtaining community support
Understanding of the interrelatedness between source
water protection and wastewater treatment
Awareness of information resources available to
officials.
Awareness of volunteer organizations that can assist.
Increase in requests to NESC and RCAP for technical
assistance.