Rural water agency 'remained diligent to our mission'

ZANESVILLE — Ohio Rural Water Association (ORWA) Executive Director Joseph Pheil has released the 2018 Quality of Life Recap report."We are extremely proud to announce that throughout this past year we remained diligent to our mission and we did it to the tune of nearly $3 million for our rural Ohio water and wastewater systems," he said.Additionally, based on federal funding for the year of about $600,000, ORWA provided on its own a net total of over $2.2 million. Clearly, ORWA's grant management is excellent.This final total is a true testament to the determination, skills and services ORWA provides, Pheil said, as the association fought through staffing issues in 2018. It developed great new services, such as templates for asset-management programs and most recently, the integration of GIS mapping capabilities for smaller Ohio systems.The ORWA staff spent much time in 2018 helping with compliance of new legislation that requires all water systems in Ohio to have an asset-management program. The association developed and is sharing a template to assist and guide small rural systems with these new requirements.Additionally, toward the end of 2018, ORWA developed the capability to provide GIS mapping for member systems, which many don't have the available funds or staffing expertise to create or pay for on their own. ORWA estimates its GIS mapping assistance will save each individual system about $12,000. The full Quality of Life Report can be found at: www.ohioruralwater.org/quality-of-life.html.