The National Rural Water Association (NRWA) has announced a new series of affinity programs to support small water and wastewater utilities across the country. These programs will be available through state rural water association affiliates as a benefit for their members.

Information is available at www.nrwa.org/affinity. Utilities interested in these programs should contact their state association for more information.

Rural Water Impact Affinity Program

Rural Water Impact is a service that builds and hosts websites for rural water and wastewater utilities. Rural Water Impact has an excellent reputation with a focus on customer service, and meets the NRWA stringent standards established for a product and/or service to the 32,000 utility members of the Rural Water Association.

“Rural Water Impact is innovative with great design, easy updates and unlimited support for utility websites,” says NRWA CEO Sam Wade. “Customers today expect technology connections to their water and wastewater systems. Rural Water Impact provides this technology at an affordable price with user-friendly features and meets a growing need of the rural water membership.

Data Breach Insurance Affinity Program

Data Breach Insurance provides protections in the case of a hacking or data breach event. Utilities are storing greater amounts of customer data and payment information. This data is subject to breach by hackers or disgruntled employees. According to the NRWA, studies show that the average cost of a data breach is $201 per record.

Water Loss Insurance Affinity Program

The new insurance program was designed with input from utilities, creating coverage that protects both the system and the utilities against losses from service line breaks. Surveys show that roughly half of utilities have water-loss forgiveness polices, resulting in lost revenue and spreading the cost for repairs across all customers. Those without forgiveness polices create huge bills for customers that suffer leaks.

About the NRWA

The National Rural Water Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to training, supporting and promoting the water and wastewater professionals that serve small communities across the United States. The mission of NRWA is to strengthen state associations.

NRWA provides training and technical assistance through 49 affiliated state rural water associations, that currently have over 31,000 utility system members. Last year, state rural water association staff delivered over 75,000 on-site technical assistance visits and 150,000 hours of training to more than 37,000 utilities. Rural Water training and technical assistance covers every aspect of operating, managing and financing water and wastewater utilities.