Forging a path through the rapidly evolving landscape of Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) implementation, 120Water, NRWA’s preferred provider for managing lead and drinking water programs, is debuting an update to the way its software manages inventories in direct alignment with EPA recommendations. Dubbed the Public Water System (PWS) Portal™, it will be introduced at the upcoming National Rural Water Association (NRWA) WaterPro Conference on Sept. 26-29 in National Harbor, MD. PWS Portal will allow public water systems to manage their service line inventories in accordance with EPA and State standards and easily report those inventories annually to their state drinking water branch.
Under the LCRR, utilities must compile a location-based inventory of service line materials by October 2024. A 2021 survey conducted by 120Water found that only 36 percent of utilities have records that will help them inventory their service lines, and only 25 percent said these records are available digitally in a central database. While developing an inventory poses a new challenge, an added hurdle is introduced as states release their unique submission specifications. To streamline and simplify the translation between inventory data and state reporting requirements, the PWS Portal will be configured to each state’s reporting needs.
“The EPA recommends that these inventories be treated as living data sets that are continuously updated throughout the year by the public water systems,” said Megan Glover, co-founder and CEO of 120Water. “These federal requirements present major new responsibilities for utilities in terms of time, manpower and financial resources, so there is a very real need for software tools like PWS Portal that can help ease the burden in each step of the process.”
PWS Portal provides instant data validation to identify gaps in inventory submissions. It can communicate directly with any state agencies, state revolving funds (SRFs), and other stakeholders who have procured the 120Water State Dashboard. Otherwise, it requires a one-click export to CSV or Excel file for submission to the state primacy agency. The portal also provides year-over-year progress toward identifying the material of unknown service lines.
“120Water is dedicated to empowering water professionals with tools like this to protect public health and ease the burden of new regulation, which is why we are the NRWA’s only listed preferred partner for LCRR,” said Glover.
The 120Water team will demo the new PWS Portal at the WaterPro Conference in booth 525. Lowell Huffman, 120Water director of strategic partnerships, will also lead a session focusing on service line inventory and tools designed to assist in the process on Wednesday Sept. 28 at 9:45 a.m. For additional information on the conference, visit WaterProConference.org.
