Are You Ready For Service Loss?
In the case of natural disaster, like that of Hurricane Matthew tearing through the southeast earlier this month, one of the hardest hit sectors can be water and wastewater utilities.
These essential services are just as susceptible to weather damage and power loss as any other, while also being responsible for providing clean water and stormwater management during emergencies. Because of their pivotal role, the U.S. EPA is ramping up efforts to prepare water and wastewater utilities for potential emergency shutdowns, recently hosting a seminar on the prospect.
The discussion, “Navigating Your Day without Water: A Virtual Discussion in Disaster Preparation,” took participants through a loss of water services during a hypothetical disaster in a fictional town. In the imagined scenario, a main break causes massive flooding and affects drinking water quality. The next day, flash flooding exacerbates the problem, particularly at a local hospital.
Several discussion questions prompted participants to think about how they would respond in such an emergency and what they could do in advance to better handle it. The goal was to get a better sense of preparedness by imagining what such a disaster, or other emergency scenarios like it, would call for.
“A drinking water or wastewater utility should understand their risk to all hazards and take steps to prepare, respond, and recover,” said David Travers, director of the EPA’s Water Security Division.
The seminar took place in recognition of National Preparedness Month to address the likelihood of water service loss and a potential gap in resiliency among the country’s utilities.
“There are several scenarios that could result in a water service loss including flooding, power outages, earthquakes, electrical fires, water main breaks, and many others,” Travers said. “Drinking water and wastewater utilities are at varying levels of readiness to respond to a variety of hazards.”
Utilities will have different needs in an emergency based on its cause and it’s not possible to imagine every possible scenario. For instance, a contamination emergency might call for additional lab capacity and water quality analysis, while a storm that knocks out the main power grid would require a generator to keep pumps running in the distribution system. However, there are some general steps that utilities can take to be better prepared.
“In order to build resilience to all hazards, water utilities should conduct or update a vulnerability assessment to identify the highest risks to mission-critical operations and find the most cost-effective measures to reduce those risks,” Travers said. “In addition, utilities should take steps to mitigate against the impacts of natural disasters beyond their control. Preparing and exercising a well-developed emergency response plan will also help to identify additional steps that can be taken to increase preparedness. Finally, water utilities should build key relationships with response partners in the community.”
There are many resources out there to help with water service loss preparation. Travers recommends that utility personnel familiarize themselves with the National Incident Management System and the Incident Command System. He suggests participation in the Water/Wastewater Utility All-Hazards Bootcamp Training program. The Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network is a group of utilities helping each other in response to emergencies. Utilities can assess their preparedness using the Community-Based Water Resiliency Tool. Additional resources can be found at the EPA’s drinking water and wastewater resilience homepage.