Local Officials Handbook

Local officials are almost always those considered ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the water and wastewater systems operated by their communities.

MCET's Drinking Water and Wastewater Handbook for Local Officials has been designed to help local officials understand legal and technical requirements for treatment, storage, and distribution of drinking water and collection, treatment, and discharge of wastewater.

The handbook explains:

federal and state regulations and legal liability for violations;
operations and maintenance strategies to ensure compliance and foster plant optimization; and
techniques for effective personnel and contract management, public relations, and community education
describes the basics of sound financial management
sources of loan and grant assistance for building or upgrading publicly-owned water and wastewater systems

The handbook was produced under a cooperative agreement between the Maryland Center for Environmental Training (MCET) of the College of Southern Maryland, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP), the Delaware Technical and Community College (DelTech), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

To download the handbook in PDF format, click on the file names below to download sections of the handbook . Viewing of Adobe PDF(R) files requires installation of Acrobat Reader®.

Local Officials Handbook (all sections as one PDF file, 1563KB)

Individual sections:
Cover
Introduction
The Regulatory Setting
Legal Responsibilities
Operations
Maintenance
Personnel Management
Procurement of Professional Services
Public Relations
Financial Management and Business Planning
Bibliography
Contacts and Resources
Sample Monthly Reporting Form
Glossary