PIPELINE
Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts
Articles from the October 2003 Publication
Congress Appears Poised
to Pass VA Bill for
Wastewater Systems
House Resolution 866 Passed the U.S. House of
Representatives earlier this year and it is now
awaiting passage in the U.S. Senate. While the
bill would require the vulnerability assessments
such as were required for water systems this bill
also provides a source of funding for not only the
vulnerability assessments but also provides grants
for implementation of mitigation.
Whether a wastewater utility does just collection
or both collection and treatment it would have to
comply with the requirement to perform a
vulnerability assessment. Grant funds would be
available to pay for these assessments. As with
water system assessments the utility would then
need to determine changes in operations, security,
and human resources needed to reduce or
eliminate identified vulnerabilities.
Once
mitigation measures were identified the utility
could then apply for grant funds to cover the costs
of the mitigation.
Included would be fencing, cameras, improved
computer security, equipment and other items
necessary to provide protection from a terrorist
attack. Funds could not be used for personnel
costs, operation or maintenance of the system.
Small systems, defined as those utilities serving
under 20,000 populations could apply for technical
assistance and guidance in conducting their
assessments.
The bill calls for an appropriation of $200 million
for the assessments and mitigation for large
utilities and $15 million for technical guidance and
mitigation for smaller utilities. There is also $1
million for the creation of technical resources by
approved non-profit organizations.
We will continue to follow this bill as it
moves through Congress. If you would like a
copy of this bill please go to
http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter HR 866 in the
appropriate box, or contact the Association
office and we can email a copy to you.
October 2003 PIPELINE Articles
Liberty Lake Takes First
Official Step to Assume
Liberty Lake Sewer and
Water District
The city of Liberty Lake voted on Tuesday, October
7th to approve the first reading of “Ordinance No.
120 - An Ordinance Providing for the
Assumption of the Liberty Lake Sewer and
Water District,”
While this move by the City to assume the 30-yearold district has been talked about for some time, it
appears they are now prepared to proceed. This
issue has gotten a lot of attention by District
customers both inside and outside of the new City’s
boundaries. Approximately 40 ratepayers from
within and without the city attended the Council
Meeting to express their opposition to the
assumption.
Formed to protect and clean up Liberty Lake the
District became one of the first special purpose
districts in the State to become actively involved in
land use issues. Working with Spokane County
government the District managed stormwater
facilities and features around the lake. As the
community grew from summer homes on the
lakeshore into a full-fledged town, the District grew
to accommodate their citizen’s needs. Now the city
claims the district is not responsive to the need for
more growth and the city would be able to act faster
on approving new connections and developments.
When the City of Liberty Lake was proposed, less
than two years ago, the District was supportive of
the efforts. Even today, the City uses the District’s
Commissioners Board Room for meetings of the
City Council. During the campaign to gather yes
votes for the new City promises were made to assure
citizens that the District would be left alone.
Supporters were told the new city of Liberty Lake
would have no interest in assuming the District, how
short some memories are.
As the City proposes to assume the entire district all
the owner/ratepayers outside the current city limits
would lose their ability to vote on issues impacting
PIPELINE
Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts
Articles from the October 2003 Publication
their utility and those elected officials who set
their rates and service.
The next step will be for the Council to pass the
2nd reading of the Ordinance for the full
assumption process to begin. Over the last several
months the Association has met with the Cities
Association in an attempt to find some manner to
address assumption agreeable to both sides.
Association of Washington Cities representatives
made it very clear that they would consider
running a bill requiring a vote on assumption
unacceptable.
NWWARN: a new tool for
water/wastewater utilities
The creation of an all-hazard Northwest Region
emergency alert network is advancing rapidly.
Initial funding by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security will provide the Pacific NW
with a regional, multi-sector system all hazard
alert network.
The purpose of this system is to connect all sectors
of government and business in one efficient alert
network that can be activated either locally,
regionally or nationally. Fire, law enforcement,
emergency management agencies, critical
infrastructure (including water/wastewater), key
businesses and military will receive simultaneous
alerts of developing emergencies, both natural or
man made, short notice warnings of terrorist
activities, or information regarding events having
broad or significant impact.
The first responder community found, following
9-11, that they did not have broad area, multisector information dissemination capacity. The
first network of this type was created by the Dallas
area FBI office right after 9-11. The new
Department of Homeland Security learned of this
alert system and has authorized the creation of 4
prototype systems in other parts of the U.S. These
prototype networks are being set up in Atlanta,
Indiana, North Texas and Seattle.
For water/wastewater utilities this will be a nocost communications network that will allow a
utility to alert neighboring utilities of emergency
situations, request mutual aid, or seek information
on how to respond to an emergency. It will also
October 2003 PIPELINE Articles
provide rapid communications between utilities and
law enforcement, public health, state agencies, and
other critical infrastructures.
NWWarn will, in addition, allow utility management
a direct link to terrorist and natural emergency
information coming from the Federal Government.
To participate in this no-cost alert network requires
submitting a subscription form, available on-line, to
the NWWarn governing committee. Each subscriber
will be reviewed by people working in that sector to
vouch that the subscribing agency and agency
contacts are who they say they are and should be
provided access to the information available on the
network.
The peer review group or “gatekeepers” will be
individuals representing special districts, PUDs, and
city owned water/wastewater systems. If you would
like to be considered for a water gatekeeper please
contact the Association.
NWWarn will also be available for the general
public to use to provide information on
suspicious activities they witness to law
enforcement and other applicable sectors. For
water/wastewater it is a tool that can be used by
ratepayers to communicate emergency
information to your utility. More information
will be made available as the network begins
operation. If you have questions please feel free
to call Hal Schlomann at (206) 246-1299 or 1(800) 244-0124.
NWWarn-Water Sector
Organizes
Representatives of several water utilities
representing special districts, PUDs and cities
met at the Association’s offices on October 7th
to begin planning administration of the
NWWarn Water/Wastewater Sector. Issues
discussed included how to meld this new system
with existing systems, using NWWarn to build a
regional emergency response team, how to get
other utilities involved, mutual aid with
agencies other than water/wastewater and a host
of other issues. The committee hopes to begin
PIPELINE
Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts
Articles from the October 2003 Publication
regular meetings to build on the idea of
utilities helping utilities in times of
emergency.
Education: a key purpose of
your Association
Most members are aware of the two annual
conferences held each Spring and Fall.
Workshops on a wide range of topics are featured
at each event. For several years now we have also
held concurrent workshops, which allows for
water or sewer specific topics and issues to be
discussed.
Two years ago the Education and Conference
committees were merged into a single Leadership
Development Committee which has responsibility
for all Association education activities. A prime
benefit of this committee merger has been the
ability to take short one-hour conference
workshops that garner great interest and turn them
into half and full day stand-alone workshops.
Over the past year two financial workshops came
from this new process.
If you attended a
conference workshop or a workshop at another
organization’s conference that you believe would
be of interest to other Association members we
would like to know. Providing the Leadership
Committee with the event name and date, the
speaker, topic, and other information would allow
us to locate that person and bring them to other
WASWD members.
The Leadership Committee is always seeking your
ideas for workshop or conference topics. District
Managers often have issues or developments
impacting their district that would be of interest to
other districts. Associate members are another
great source of workshop ideas. It is they that are
out working with emerging technologies and ideas
that WASWD members would benefit from
learning about.
So please, share your ideas for topics,
speakers, issues you would like to know
about, problems that the collective members
might have an issue with as well. By helping
each other we all grow.
October 2003 PIPELINE Articles
State Auditor Reports Show
Many Failures to Follow
Proper Procedures for
Federal Grants
In reviewing the State Auditor’s reports for
September, located on their web site, it was noted
that several districts and cities failed to follow
required procedures regarding their federal grants.
In several cases the entity failed to request an audit
from the State Auditor for the year in which the
grant was expended.
In another case the request for reimbursement was
not made in accordance with the requirements of the
grant agreement.
In a majority of cases neither the contractors, the
agency staff, nor other involved parties in the work
fully understood the requirements contained in the
grant or loan agreements. It can also be noted that
while most of the agencies, which failed to follow
the agreement completely, were small, some larger
local government agencies made the same types of
mistake.
As more districts may have an opportunity to make
use of federal grant or loan funds in the future they
are urged to ensure they fully understand and follow
the grant’s accompanying agreements.
Standing Committees
President Larry Jones is seeking good people to
come forward to serve on the various standing
committees
of
the
Association.
Member
Commissioners, Managers, other District Staff
and Associate Members are all welcome and
needed on WASWD committees.
These committees include: Audit, Bylaws, Finance,
Government Relations, Leadership Development,
Long Range Plan, Management Level Employees
(Mutual Aid & Wage Survey sub committees),
Personnel Committee, Public Relations, as well as
the temporary Golf Committee.
The committee year runs from January 1st to
December 31st. So if you would like to help set
the Association’s course for the next year please
let us know which committee interests you.