Water, Wastewater & Solid Waste

RCAC’s programs and services deliver solutions to complex community needs. Our local presence allows us to develop partnerships with communities to identify needs, set goals, and select the best options to meet those goals. RCAC and our partners provide the tools to create change and growth, but the communities chart their own course. Collaboration, plus community effort will equal community change. How can we help you?

RCAC’s Loan Fund is a financial resource for rural communities. The Loan Fund fills financing gaps and serves in unconventional markets. We offer loans for affordable housing development, environmental infrastructure, community facilities and small businesses in rural locations.

Decent housing, safe drinking water, education, financing, jobs, community facilities, leadership, families are the many facets to RCAC's work.

RCAC expands the knowledge base of the rural public through education and training. Our training expertise is in technical, financial, and administrative issues that affect rural communities. We take great pride in our professional trainer team's capacity and effectiveness. Our trainers maximize audience participation to keep trainings relevant and memorable.

RCAC's news and publications are a compilation of timely news, announcements and accomplishments produced for the rural development world.

Sub-standard housing and poverty are commonplace in low-income rural communities. Many of these communities also face daunting challenges to access safe, clean drinking water and to develop other vital infrastructure. These issues are often overlooked in policy because rural communities lack the resources, training or social networks that are found in urban areas. Learn how you can advocate for the under-served population in the West.

Founded in 1978, RCAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that partners with rural and Indigenous communities to achieve their vision and well being through technical assistance, training, financial resources and advocacy. For more than 45 years, our dedicated staff and active board, coupled with our key values: leadership, collaboration, commitment, quality and integrity, have helped effect positive change in rural communities across the West. Learn more about who we are and how we operate.

Water, wastewater & solid waste

RCAC assists rural communities to build, improve, manage, operate, or finance drinking water and wastewater systems. RCAC helped rural communities access millions of dollars in grants and loans and trained thousands of individuals through customized on-site technical assistance and workshops. Infrastructure development can be an extensive and intricate challenge, with a web of problems and details arising at every turn, including a lack of local experience. Following is a list of some services RCAC provides:

Project financial packaging
Grant & loan application assistance
Asset management strategies
Environmental regulatory requirements
Capital improvement planning
Energy audits for utilities
Hiring consultants, engineers & contractors
Municipal solid waste management
On-site wastewater operations
Operation & maintenance manuals
Restructuring & consolidation evaluation
Setting & reviewing rates
Training workshops
- Energy use
- Ethics & conflict of interest
- Fiscal systems & financial management
- Operator training
- Water treatment

Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) launched the Managerial and Financial Hub on its website! The M&F Hub contains a collection of good resources related to various drinking water M&F topics from RCAP, from the regions, and from other organizations. The M&F Hub is a deliverable for RCAP’s EPA NPA 2 grant this year.

Access the M&F Hub here

Solid waste technical assistance

Solid waste technical assistance is a core area of RCAC’s expertise offered to communities across the American West. We have staff members who provide solid waste management technical assistance and training.

Solid Waste Technical Assistance

Services for Indigenous communities

We also serve Indigenous communities, primarily through our Tribal circuit rider program in California and Arizona, and also through programs in New Mexico and Utah.

Tribal Circuit Riders

If you would like to talk to an RCAC environmental rural development specialist about these or other services, please complete our Request for Assistance.