Water Security/ Emergency Response Guides

Water and wastewater utilities are responsible for taking action to protect their infrastructure, security practices should be incorporated into a utility's everyday business functions. Activities such as fence-cutting and lock-picking (often dismissed as harmless) may be indications of more serious threats to a water or wastewater system. Utilities must be prepared to respond to this type of threat, as well as a wide range of other emergencies, including natural disasters and cyberattacks. Improved security preparations provide for a more effective and efficient response from your utility.

We have 1,220 resources (and counting) on Water Security/ Emergency Response in our Documents Database that provide valuable information on this topic. You can search for documents like a Community Water System Emergency Response Plan template, U.S. EPA's Water Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (WCAT), and guides on hazard mitigation for natural disasters, and many other useful guides that will help you to deliver safe and clean water to utility customers. 

To access the wealth of knowledge on Water Security/ Emergency Response within our database just select "CATEGORY" in the dropdown then choose "Water Security/ Emergency Response." Once you make that selection, a second dropdown will appear where you can choose "HOST," “TYPE,” or “STATE” to narrow the search even further. If you have a specific search term in mind, use the “Keyword Filter” search bar on the right side of the screen.

This is part of our A-Z for Operators series.

Resources and Tools to Help Secure Your Utility's Infrastructure

Infrastructure Security Month is held annually in November to promote the vital role of critical infrastructure and to remind us why it is important to strengthen the security and resilience of America's critical infrastructure. Below are some useful resources and tools to help your utility secure your infrastructure and increase resilience to natural disasters and malevolent acts that threaten the water sector.

Water Contaminant Information Tool (WCIT)
WCIT is a secure database containing information on priority contaminants of concern for drinking water and wastewater systems to help systems prepare for, respond to, and recover from contamination incidents.

Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU)
CRWU initiative assists drinking water and wastewater utilities in building resilience to climate impacts.

Resilient Strategies Guide for Water Utilities
The Resilient Strategies Guide introduces drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities to the adaptation planning process. Utilities can use the Guide to identify their planning priorities, vulnerable assets, potential adaptation strategies and available funding sources.

Incident Action Checklists for Water Utilities
These 12 checklist templates help with emergency preparedness, response and recovery activities. Incidents include wildfires, flooding, power outages, cybersecurity, and more. 

Federal Funding for Water and Wastewater Utilities in National Disasters (Fed FUNDS)
Fed FUNDS provides information tailored to water and wastewater utilities on federal disaster and mitigation funding programs from FEMA, USDA, EPA, HUD, SBA, and USBR.

Featured Videos: Preparing Your System for Disasters & Emergencies

Preparing Your Wastewater System for Disasters and Emergencies from RCAP on Vimeo.

Disaster Management and Black Sky Events

Coming this October, AWWA will host a webinar entitled Water Sector Black Sky Resilience. A Black Sky event is a long-duration, widespread power outage that could, in turn, cause a whole host of additional catastrophes. 

According to The Electric Infrastructure Security Council, A Black Sky event can have many causes: high magnitude earthquakes, severe space weather, electromagnetic pulses or interferences in the upper atmosphere (the kind that a nuclear detonation might cause), hurricanes, cyber-terrorism, coordinated power grid assaults and more.

Hurricane Harvey has offered a glimpse of the impact a Black Sky event would have on water and wastewater systems and the communities they serve. Black Sky events would cause much longer-term outages than the typical hazard event, and help might not come as quickly, or as easily. Back-up generators might be able to provide a certain amount of power, as long as they are in working order, but what if the treatment chemicals you depend on run out and can't be delivered to you?

Last year, the National Infrastructure Advisory Council issued a 212-page report analyzing water sector disaster scenarios and these types of cascading failures - power losses that lead to water losses and the consequences of those losses. The report concluded that this was an area that needed more analysis and planning. The report also recommends that smaller systems be provided with training as well as assistance in partnering with larger utilities that have more resources. 

Clearly, the effects of a long-term water outage on public health could be devasting, and this is why it is important to incorporate Black Sky response and recovery considerations into disaster management plans. The good news is that if you have a disaster management plan in place, you are already heading in the right direction. Using tools such as this 2016 E-Pro Handbook II (Water), you can expand your plan to include even the most severe emergencies. And this resource form the U.S. Energy Information Administration can keep you updated with live energy disruption reports across the nation. 

The USEPA also has a whole host of tools to help your utility prepare for a Black Sky event including a Power Resilience Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities, a Drinking Water and Wastewater Utility Generator Preparedness guide, and a video entitled "Power to Keep Water Moving" (click below to view). Finally, be sure to check out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' EPFAT tool, a secure web-based tool to input and store emergency power assessment data. Using this tool can help USACE provide temporary power faster, getting you the right generator at the right time. 

Featured Video: Secure Your Utility