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Postcard from NRWA Training
POSTCARD FROM NRWA EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRAINING
In early May, rural water representatives from all over the country traveled to Cedar Creek, Texas for the National Rural Water Association Annual Emergency Response Training. Hosted by Texas Rural Water Association at the LCRA McKinney Roughs Nature Park, 98 attendees from 26 rural water associations attended this two-day event for rural water first responders. The event kicked off on May 4th with a networking social complete with lawn games and a fish fry prepared by the Louisiana Rural Water Association. Training officially began the morning of May 5th, and included welcoming remarks, a program overview and discussion of safety protocols from NRWA and State Rural Water Association leadership. The group then moved outside for a circuit of hands-on demonstrations, featuring the NRWA Mobile Command Trailer, a purification unit, field tools for emergency response, stations for various generator set ups, start up and maintenance, and more. After another homecooked Cajun lunch prepared by Louisiana Rural Water Association staff, attendees moved inside for a training session on building system resiliency. Presented by Kenneth Johnson from Rincon WSC, the session focused on the events surrounding Winter Storm Uri and the lessons learned as a result. Next, the Manchaca Fire Chief discussed and demonstrated some first aid basics that would be useful in situations first responders might encounter. Texas took the stage next to discuss our utility mutual aid initiatives and presented case studies on recent assistance provided by Mustang SUD and North Collin SUD. Chris Boyd of Mustang SUD also presented on the acquisition of government surplus equipment for use in emergency response. Other State Association Leadership followed, including Gary Williams from Florida Rural Water Association, Pat Credeur from Louisiana Rural Water Association, Dennis Sternberg from Arkansas Rural Water Association, and Rob White from Alabama Rural Water Association, with a discussion of recent emergency response activities in their states. NRWA staff and volunteer members of the national Emergency Response Committee also gave updates. The day’s training ended with electrical safety, which included a classroom portion and an arc flash demonstration from the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. Attendees wound down after a long day of training with a Texas BBQ dinner, sponsored by CoBank, before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel. Training continued the next morning with another circuit of hands-on demonstrations focusing on the use and benefits of drones, towing safety, rebuilding water and wastewater plant motors, volt identification, and more. All attendees who completed the training received certificates for 12 hours of emergency response training and gift bags that included reflective vests, work gloves, volt testers, solar chargers, and first aid kits to help in their field response. Thank you to the sponsors who helped make this event possible — Taylor Power Systems for our tents and entertainment, CoBank for our BBQ Dinner, Municipal Water Impact/Rural Water Impact for breakfasts, and USA BlueBook for break refreshments. Special recognition also goes to our friends at NRWA, LRWA, FRWA, Alabama RWA, and Arkansas RWA for helping coordinate this event. If you would like to learn more about our emergency response efforts, visit: www.trwa.org/emergencyresponse.
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