Asset Management 101 – Finding Financial Assistance for Infrastructure Upgrades
On this page:
Training Video
This webinar provides a high level orientation to the core concepts of asset management, how to prioritize system needs, how to secure funding, what resources are available for small communities, and who to go to for help. The speakers discuss case studies and highlight tools that small communities will find helpful in preparing long term plans and successfully implementing them. Note that the concepts and practices of asset management apply to both wastewater and drinking water systems.
Date of Recording: April 15, 2020 (1-2:30 pm Eastern)
Presenters
- Ms. Sarah Buck joined RCAP Inc. in March 2019 and has been involved in the water resources management and community development industry for more than nine years. In her current role, Sarah oversees all of RCAP’s environmental programs as well as the training and technical services team. She also works closely on the build out of strategic rural initiatives. Sarah has extensive experience in fund development, grants and contracts management, strategic program development and implementation, capacity building, professional facilitation, community outreach, communications, and adult education. Sarah has years of on the ground experience leading participant-based trainings, including water board leadership development, and has facilitated multiple utility regionalization processes. Prior to joining RCAP’s national office, she spent four years in California at the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, where she managed the flagship Agua4All program and was an active member of the Community Leadership and Regionalization teams. Most recently she worked at RCAP Solutions in Massachusetts as the Deputy Director of Community Resources where she helped to oversee all water, wastewater and solid waste work in the northeast and US Caribbean which included a staff of 20 and more than $6 million in program dollars. Because of this history, she brings a unique regional and grassroots technical assistance provider approach to her national work.
- Alison Flenniken is an Environmental Protection Specialist in the U.S. EPA Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water, focusing on asset management and capacity development for drinking water systems. In addition, Alison is the lead coordinator for the National Capacity Development and Operation Certification Workshop this August. Prior to joining to the EPA, Alison served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, promoting rural aquaculture and facilitated training events for sustainable agriculture and health education. Alison holds a B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University.
- Heather Hemmilberger is a registered professional engineer with 30 years of experience. She has a BS in Environmental Engineering from Penn State University, an MS in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and is pursuing a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of New Mexico. She has been the Director of the Southwest Environmental Finance Center (formerly the New Mexico EFC) since 1996. Heather has worked in all areas of water and wastewater over her career, including design, operations, troubleshooting, training and technical assistance. While Heather works in all areas of capacity development, her primary focus for the last 13 years has been asset management, including the related topics of energy efficiency and water efficiency (water loss auditing and non-revenue water loss reduction.) Heather has delivered well over 100 trainings of this type throughout the U.S. She has also assisted utilities of all sizes with the implementation of asset management. Heather has also had the privilege of visiting all 50 states and all U.S. territories and has worked with water or wastewater utilities in almost all of them. She is a member of AWWA’s Asset Management Committee and the Subcommittee for the Asset Management Practice survey. She is also a member of the AWWA Water Loss Control Workgroup. Heather is a board member on the EPA Environmental Financial Advisory Board.