AWWA JAW31547

Owners and customers of small water systems are at a crossroads. They will soon face the need to make significant investments and bear much greater operating costs to comply with increasingly stringent performance requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Meeting these demands will expose additional needs to replace deteriorated infrastructure. A piecemeal approach to coping with the new environment could become a trap if the full scope of these liabilities is not appreciated at the outset. By taking a comprehensive view, systems can either find the assurance they need to move forward confidently on their own or discover restructuring opportunities involving alternative structural or institutional arrangements. This article describes the strategy adopted by Pennsylvania to improve visibility and thereby enhance the viability of small systems. Includes 6 references, table, figures.