Better ERPs Part 4: Is Your System All-Hazard Ready? March 22, 2016 By User Emergency Response, Sustainability emergency response, extreme weather, featured document, security, sustainability 0 Last year saw record-breaking heat, severe storms, and worsening drought conditions across the country. And current NOAA predictions suggests the first half of 2016 won’t be much different as El Nino continues to have widespread effects. If these events have left you asking, “What would I do if something like that happened in my community,” you’re not alone. In part four of our series on improving emergency response plans, we want to help you find an answer. The tips and resources below will walk you through the process of developing an all-hazards response plan and provide specific guidance for some of the most common hazards. Understand your vulnerability to extreme weather. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is a great resource here. Their Ready.gov website has information on when and where extreme events are most likely to take place. Identify vulnerable assets. Are key equipment located in the floodplain? Are your circuitry and control panels secured for high winds? Identify possible mitigation measures would protect vulnerable assets and priority operations. Putting in place a procedure to top off water in storage tanks prior to a hurricane or bolting down chemical tanks in advance of a flood are just a few examples. Determine which mitigation measures should be implemented. Keep in mind costs, effectiveness, and practicality when making this decision. Identify actions that will need to be taken immediately before and after an event. For example, sandbagging treatment sheds or turning off water meters at destroyed homes and buildings. Write a plan to implement mitigation and rapid-response measures. This should be revised periodically and integrated into your utility's overall asset management process. Be prepared to act. Include rapid-response measures in your employee training programs and keep staff and other stakeholders up-to-date on any changes. For more planning tips and information on common hazards, check out these resources and visit our documents database. You can also learn more about drought preparedness in part two of this series. Water/Wastewater All-Hazards Boot Camp Training This training course is designed for water and wastewater employees responsible for emergency response and recovery activities. It also explains why and how to implement an all-hazards program. The program walks you through a scenario with Our Town Utility staff, lets you hear from water sector representatives, and tests your knowledge on prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene (WASH)-Related Emergencies & Outbreaks This CDC portal offers a comprehensive set of tools and resources for not only responding to a crisis but also preparing for the worst. Preparedness resources include preparedness toolkits, preparedness training, and directions for emergency disinfection of water. Climate Ready Water Utility: Adaptation Strategies Guide & Planning for Extreme Weather Events This webinar presentation highlights the Workshop Planner and the Adaptation Strategies Guide, and how a utility can use them both when developing adaptation plans. It also highlights utility experiences with the tools. Flood Resilience: A Basic Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities With a user-friendly layout, embedded videos, and flood maps to guide you, EPA's Flood Resilience Guide is your one-stop resource to know your flooding threat and identify practical mitigation options to protect your critical assets. Incident Action Checklist – Tornado Use this comprehensive list from U.S. EPA to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a tornado. Emergency Response for Drinking and Wastewater Utilities This EPA portal has a variety of tools, including mobile-friendly websites, to support utility preparedness and response. Comments are closed.