Abstract |
Drinking water systems, especially small systems serving 3,300 or fewer customers, often face significant challenges in providing safe, reliable drinking water to their customers. These challenges require water system managers to make decisions on a range of issues. Management decisions for water systems should start with the concept of level of service-criteria that establish what the systems customers expect in terms of product quality and service. Once a level of service has been established, a system can determine which short-term and long-term technical and financial issues it needs to tackle. Short-term issues focus primarily on operations and maintenance (O&M). Longer-term issues are those associated with infrastructure needs, quality of source water, decisions about adequacy of treatment, and questions about the availability of water resources to meet consumer demand. These longer-term issues have often been ignored because of the legacy of capital investment made by previous generations. As infrastructure ages, however, these issues must be addressed. At some point, systems may need to change the way they do business. Forming partnerships with other systems is a proven approach that can provide systems with a wide range of options and benefits. |