February 10, 2016
The Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center (SU-EFC) and its Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) counterparts will offer a fourth round of the Smart Management for Small Water Systems Program in 2016-2017 with $1.8 million in new grant funds from the U.S. EPA. The EFCN and its program partner, the American Water Works Association, was one of four recipients of $12.7 million in total funds designated to support training and technical assistance opportunities for small drinking and wastewater systems.
Led by the Environmental Finance Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the program team will continue to offer assistance to small water systems serving 10,000 or fewer customers in every state, territory, and the Navajo Nation with the goal of improving systems’ financial and managerial capabilities. Assistance is offered in the form of workshops, webinars, technical assistance, small group support, eLearning modules, online tools, and blogs. Common training themes include Asset Management, Collaborating with Neighboring Systems, Energy Management Planning, Financial Management, and Leadership, among other topics.
The first two rounds of the program have been well received by systems, with 3,650 webinar participants, 2,748 workshop participants, and 280 in depth technical assistance interactions. The third round of the program is currently underway.