ABSTRACT:The National Regulatory Research Institute has recommended the merger of small rural water districts in the United States. Success at bringing about merger of these districts, which contain fewer than 3,500 customers, has been highly limited. The subject of this paper is a demonstration project that may act as a catalyst to achieve the desired goal of regionalization. A computerized hydraulic data management program (CHDMP) was developed for a case study in Nelson County, Kentucky. University professors, graduate students, and two water utilities’ staffs cooperated in network analysis employing computer hardware and software. The utilities’ staffs were taught the science and technology of hydraulic model preparation, simulation, and analysis for the case study distribution systems. As an integrated system, the model contained 294 pipes, 234 nodes, six pumps, and 11 tanks. Each utility's problem areas were identified and some of the individual and mutual benefits of hydraulic planning were illustrated. A dialogue resulted between the managers. Each manager described his goals and agreed that, although political merger was not feasible at the present time, future economic factors could be a definite influence in reversing that decis
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