The National Rural Water Association (NRWA), with its affiliated state rural water associations, is the largest water and wastewater utility membership organization in the United States of America. The NRWA is a professional organization that supports rural and small water utilities throughout the nation. NRWA and its state affiliates are organized as a non-profit trade association, and represent more than 31,000 water and wastewater utility members. The association provides training, technical assistance and source water protection assistance to the rural and small utilities which comprise 94 percent of the nation's community water supplies. This assistance is supported by the United States Congress and is provided in partnership with the USDA's Rural Utilities Service, the Farm Service Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency. The NRWA and state rural water affiliates also represent rural and small utilities in the regulatory and legislative process. History The National Rural Water Association was founded in 1976 in response to the Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974. The SDWA authorized the United States Environmental Protection Agency to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water. The NRWA was founded because many of the original EPA standards were written for large metropolitan water utilities, and many smaller utilities did not have the resources to meet those standards. NRWA's first meeting in Oklahoma City was attended by eight states: Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Indiana and Texas. States quickly joined the organization with Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa and South Carolina joining in 1977; Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee 1978; and Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New York, Ohio in 1979 and Arizona in 1990. Hawaii incorporated its rural water association in December 2010, bringing NRWA programs to all 50 states. The Circuit Rider Program, a signature of NRWA, began in 1980 in 18 states. Circuit riders are roving drinking water and wastewater experts that provided technical assistance to the unities in their area. The program provided another tool for small water systems that did not always have the experience, equipment, training or personnel to deal large or persistent problems. During its operation, the NRWA has added a variety of training, technical assistance, source water protection and financial programs to assist small water and waste water systems. The NRWA's network of training and assistance had allowed