The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau for Drinking & Groundwater is offering three (3) online training courses comprised of four (4) unique learning modules for water utility governing bodies and for drinking water utilities professional staff who have decision making authority. These online modules are management trainings intended for government bodies (village, city or town boards) as well as other utility governing boards (utility commissions) and professionals with decision authority as it pertains to drinking water utilities.
The overarching theme of all four training modules is to aid governing bodies in developing and maintaining technical, managerial and financial (TMF) capacity of a water utility. As part of the 1996 amendments to the SDWA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enacted a Capacity Development Program, which requires state drinking water regulatory authorities to place a strong emphasis on preventing drinking water contamination. Wisconsin’s Capacity Development Program (program) aims to help public water systems strengthen their ability to supply safe drinking water now and in the future by focusing on assisting system owners and operators with improving their technical abilities, managerial skills, and financial resources to comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements.
To ensure continuous delivery of safe drinking water to their customers, the public water systems must also demonstrate during sanitary survey inspections that they have and will continue to maintain TMF capacity. These inspections are conducted by the DNR on a scheduled timeline and are required of all public water systems. The purpose of the training provided through this project is to educate the governing bodies of water utilities on how to effectively manage their utility’s programs, assets, and finances.