Serving Rural Ohio Communities for Over 30 Years The Ohio Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) provides consulting services to help rural communities address their drinking water and wastewater treatment needs.   Each year, we serve well over 100 communities in Ohio and leverage millions of dollars for water and sewer projects.  Our field agents assist communities with project development and capacity building.  Ohio RCAP is part of the Great Lakes RCAP network, and receives funding from a number of federal programs as well as Ohio EPA and the Ohio Water Development Authority to provide technical assistance to communities under 10,000 population.  Many of our client communities serve only a few hundred people, or are rural areas in need of public water or sewer service.
WHAT'S NEW!  New RCAP Guides Released to Help Small Water and Wastewater Systems The Basics of Financial Management and nine other publications have been produced by the National RCAP Office for small, rural communities. Each guide has been written and reviewed by field staff who are experts in the subject of the guide they are producing. All guides are general enough to apply to most communities across the country, regardless of their location, size and their state’s rules and regulations.  A list of the ten guides and a description of each is available at www.rcap.org/commpubs. Contact your nearest RCAP representative to receive a printed copy, or go to the National RCAP website.   MARK YOU CALENDARS!    August 14-16, 2012 Hilton at Easton - Columbus, Ohio Planning Big Things for Ohio's Small Communities!  Ohio RCAP is excited to offer its second biannual "Small Towns, Big Futures" conference on August 14-15 at the Hilton @ Easton, Columbus.   Featured speakers will include: Senator Rob Portman (invited) Ohio Department of Development Director Christiane Schmenk Dr. Ned Hill (invited) Brian Cole, author of Building Communities: 25 Strategies to Advance America The History Channel's Inspector America, Timothy Galarnyk A full day and a half of concurrent tracks on infrastructure, economic development, and leadership/management will offer many sessions that represent all the best trends and practices in community and economic development today.  Check back for a full brochure and registration form on this website in early June!
Collaborative GIS Solutions for Small Utilities and Local Governments  Has your community considered implementing a GIS program, but the cost of software, equipment and training or additional personnel has held you back? In 2008, RCAP embarked on an ambitious effort to find a solution for its client communities that wanted to implement a Geographic Information System (GIS). Recognizing that the needs and use of a GIS among these communities is different from large cities and counties, we began coordinating small communities to obtain funding for the study and development of a GIS program to fit their needs and budgets.  RCAP has already worked in over 20 communities to map their utilities, and recently received an ARC grant to create GIS datasets for 20 more. RCAP now has a GIS Team to assist communities with GPS data collection and GIS program development, and soon we will offer map services via a GIS Server over the Internet.  All small public utilities in Ohio are welcome to participate in the shared Rural Community Collaborative Services program we are developing to provide affordable solutions for GIS and hopefully other procurement and technology needs in the future.  For more information, contact Sherry Loos at 330-628-4286.
RCAP Encourages All Utilities to Join WARN Today!  WARN provides standardized Mutual Aid Agreements and a database of equipment, labor and other resources water and wastewater systems can utilize in the event of an emergency.  Participation is free, and RCAP along with AWWA strongly encourage all systems to join.  A big advantage to being a WARN member is that by signing the agreement and following the procedures, it sets the utility up for record keeping according to FEMA guidelines and has them in place should reimbursement occur. Also, WARN addresses the responsibility/liability issues for assistance. WARN is a voluntary program of utilities helping other utilities.  Please visit the Ohio WARN website at http://www.ohwarn.org, or contact Randy Gilbert at 937-456-6760 for more information.				Save Money - Save Energy! RCAP's Energy Audit Team specialized in Energy Audits for small community water and sewer utilities. Our average, our energy audits identify projects with a short payback period that can save systems 25% per year on their energy bills.  Frequently, electric utility providers will provide partial reimbursement for studies. Call Scott Strahley today at 419-334-4034.
Financing Resources -  RCAP's Water and Wastewater Funding Grid for Ohio (updated frequently)  Ohio RCAP Handout     •    Go to the Ohio RCAP Toolkit section to download other resources!    •    Ohio RCAP Field Agent Locations
Ohio RCAP, part of the Great Lakes RCAP, is administered by the W.S.O.S. Community Action Commission, Inc. in Fremont, Ohio.