ND Rural Water Systems to focus on staffing

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KVRR) — North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association wants to use its apprenticeship program to hire more workers to handle drinking water and wastewater issues.

Executive Director Eric Volk testified at a congressional hearing in Washington about The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act.

Volk speaks highly of the bill and says the technical assistance they provide gives workers a boots on the ground mentality overlooking rural water systems.

“Some of these very small systems, you even have part-time staff or volunteers. So, the technical assistance is, really, to us, the boots on the ground. They know us, we live in their communities, we live in the state. We’re not there one day and never to be seen again. We’re there for the long haul,” says Eric Volk, the Executive Director of the North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association.

He says the state is okay with minimal funding as long as it doesn’t bring down the overall population.