AWWA WQTC62544

Water system specialists from 16 nations, U.S. federal agencies, and water-related professional groups met in Bozeman, Montana on May 9-12, 2004 as part of the colloquium "Protecting Public Health in Small Water Systems" to consider a detailed set of issues facing small water systems in the developed world. The purpose was to exchange information and experience with the end result being guidance on improving small water system performance. Among the issues were potential threats to public health, system management and operation, personnel training and public education, regulatory challenges, and models of system consolidation. Attendees agreed upon four principal problems in small systems: incomplete understanding of public health risks; lack of expertise on designing, organizing, managing, monitoring and operating small systems; insufficient training and education at all levels of operation and oversight; and a regulatory climate too focused on compliance rather than on risks to public health. This paper summarizes a document entitled "Protecting Public Health in Small Water Systems: Report of an International Colloquium" published in January of 2005 (Ford et al., 2005) that is available from the Montana Water Center. The full report can also be downloaded at http://water.montana.edu/colloquium.