Register Now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/14th-annual-epa-drinking-water-workshop-small-systems-challenges-and-solutions-tickets-35897288757

There is no registration fee to attend. The pre-registration deadline is Friday, August 12, 2016. Registrations will continue to be accepted after that date (including on site at the workshop), but attendees who register after the deadline will not be included in the List of Attendees distributed at the workshop.

The workshop will begin at 8:30 am on Tuesday, August 22, 2017, and will conclude at approximately 10:45 am on Thursday, August 24, 2016. There will also be an optional optimal corrosion control treatment (OCCT) training session from 1:00-4:00 pm on Thursday at EPA’s Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center. The speakers and group leaders are experts in their fields from EPA and other federal agencies, state and local agencies, academia, associations, and other groups. The workshop will include multiple sessions and activities:

• Opening and wrap-up sessions
• Nine technical sessions, including a hot topics session
• Ask the experts session
• Poster session
• Breakout groups
• Optional OCCT training

The technical sessions of the workshop include distribution systems and monitoring and treatment topics, such as challenges in the water sector, grants funding for small systems, pathogens and biofilm, premise plumbing, corrosion control, infrastructure and modeling, manganese and iron, contaminants of emerging concern, inorganics, data management, compliance monitoring, and lead in schools and lead service line replacement.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza; rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis at a group rate. The group rate is $136.00 plus 17.5% tax per night. The cut-off date for reservations within the group room block is Tuesday, August 1, 2017.

For reservations we recommend booking a room online through the group reservation site. If you prefer to book a reservation by phone, call the Hilton Hotels Reservation Center at (800) 445-8667 and mention the workshop name, “14th Annual EPA Drinking Water Workshop,” in order to receive the group rate. If you have any trouble obtaining the group rate, please contact The Cadmus Group, Inc. at 14thAnnualDWWorkshop@cadmusgroup.com.

NOTE: For accurate driving directions to the Hilton, please use the following address: 418 Race Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202.

In the United States, there are 151,119 operational public water systems (PWS). Of these, 97% (146,767) are considered small systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act, meaning they serve 10,000 or fewer people. Although the majority of our PWS are considered small systems, they serve the fewest number of people—approximately 27% (69,070,729) of the population (255,923,859) receiving drinking water from PWS. While many of these active small systems consistently provide safe, reliable drinking water to their customers, many face a number of challenges in their ability to achieve and maintain system sustainability. Some of these small system challenges include lack of expertise to choose, operate, and maintain systems; lack of financial resources; aging infrastructure; limited options for residual disposal; and state primacy agencies with limited resources to support the large number of small systems.

EPA’s small systems research is developing tools, technologies, and approaches to help small systems provide safe drinking water now and in the future. This helps communities’ lower costs and provides safe drinking water. EPA also conducts a monthly small systems webinar series, which is providing a forum for EPA to communicate directly with state personnel and other drinking water small systems professionals, which allows EPA to provide training and foster collaboration and dissemination of information. This, in turn, provides state agencies with the information and resources they need to communicate the latest scientific advancements and current guidance to their small systems.