RCDI is specifically targeted to training and technical assistance for rural low-income communities and affords them opportunities they might not otherwise get access to. The community must be 80% below the state non-metropolitan median household income and below a maximum population threshold of 50,000. The communities that have participated in utility mapping and managerial and financial capacity building with RCAP Solutions with this funding would not have been able to afford these valuable services otherwise.
Many of the communities that RCAP Solutions works with have no maps of their system at all or very outdated and/or incomplete maps. Full system mapping enables them to: respond quickly to minimize threatened or actual interruption of service; facilitate asset tracking and repair and replacement planning and implementation; provide documentation for system upgrade engineering reports and funding applications; and support emergency planning and response activities. In the northeast U.S., GPS locating of assets is critical in the winter months when valuable time can be lost finding and uncovering system components. The maps are created in both digital and physical formats for the community and they receive training on how to access and manipulate the digital maps for optimal system operation and management.
Under the RCDI program, RCAP Solutions also conducts additional training to benefit lower-income communities including managerial capacity building. In New York RCDI has also helped RCAP to facilitate training of community Code Enforcement Officers and other residential wastewater professionals on topics related to onsite wastewater treatment systems, including fundamentals, inspection procedures, and technology alternatives.
RCDI is very broad in what it allows a Technical Assistance Provider to do to support low income communities and really concentrates on a number of aspects of a community’s needs to foster self-sufficiency and overall community development.
Click on the map below to expand and see locations of over 30 current and past RCDI projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico.
