Emergency planning basics for water and wastewater utilities in California.

1. BACK TO BASICS
Emergency Preparedness For Water Utilities

2. What Can go Wrong?
 “We don’t see what we don’t want to see. We don’t
want to think about scary things. That’s just
human nature.”
 Planning & preparedness is based on:
 What is imaginable.
 What we allow ourselves to believe.
 We can only plan for what we can foresee and
understand as possible.
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3. March 11, 2011 2:46 PM Japan
 M9.0 EQ off East Coast of Honshu Island
 Energy equal to:
 4,000 Hiroshima Bombs
 40% of the energy used in the World in 1 year
 $20 Billion + in damages
 Coast moved eastward - up to 13 feet
 Tsunami 30+ feet tall
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4. Impacts
 Human: 13,000 dead, 15,000 missing, 22,00 rescued
by Search & Rescue Teams
 Utility: 1 dam failure, 5 million houses without
electricity initially, 50 sewage treatment plants
damaged
 Infrastructure damaged: 217,000 buildings, 7,735
schools, 26 train tracks, 2,126 Roads, 56 Bridges
 2.1 + Million People without Drinking Water
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5. San Andreas Mega Fault
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7. Plans
 REQUIRED Plans
 Ca SEMS/NIMS based emergency plan
 VA & ERP
 REALLY NEED
 Incident Specific Plans
 Urban-Wildland Fire Coordination Plan for Water Utilities
& Fire Departments
 Crisis Communications Plan
 Recovery – Business Continuity Plan
 Finance Plan
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8. INCIDENT RESPONSE PLANS
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9. Quick Exercise
1. Identify 5 hazards specific to your agency.
2. Circle the 2 biggest threats.
3. Of those 2 which 1 are you least prepared for?
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10. Specific Plans
 Urban Wildland Fire Plan
 Identify areas of concern
 Critical structures
 Power Outages
 Generator fuel run times
 Critical sites and “ETA to Chaos”
 Water Distribution Planning
 Can you re-direct flow?
 Where might you be able to set up distribution?
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11. WATER DISTRICTS
ARE FIRST RESPONDERS
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12. First Responder?
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13. Disaster Service Workers
 California Government Code 3100-3109
 Declares
 “the protection of the health and safety, and preservation
of the lives and property, of the people of the state from…
 Emergencies which result in conditions of disaster…
 Is of paramount state importance requiring the
responsible efforts of public and private agencies and
individual citizens.”
 ALL public employees
 “disaster service workers subject to such disaster service
activities as may be assigned to them by their superiors or
by law.”
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14. RESPONSE
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15. Basics
 Treat all incidents like they are disasters from the
beginning
 Use Incident Command System
 Assess and plan
 Damage and costs
 Resource Needs
 Positions to consider
 Public Information Officer
 Safety Officer
 Logistics of Response
 Food and water
 Shifts
 Don’t assume quick fix!
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16. Activation
 Business Hours
 Roll call or assigned meeting place
 Automatic duties or assignments
 After Hours
 Automatic or requested
 Where do you report?
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17. Incident Command Post (ICP)
 What
 Central point of coordination
 Multi-agency
 Multi-discipline
 Purpose
 Ensure coordinated and efficient use of resources
 Central situation status analysis
 Who
 Representatives of all responding agencies
 Mutual aid agency liaisons
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18. Water Liaison Role
 Communications
 Between Utility and Command
 Incident Information
 Water Expert
 Distribution
 Supporting infrastructure
 Potential impacts
 Approval of resource allocation
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19. Expectations
 Capabilities of the water system
 What can the system do
 Peak Capacity vs. Needs
 Service Zones
 Trigger points and impact
 Back up plans
 Essential facilities
 What needs protection?
 What are the impacts if not protected?
 Potential Issues
 Now, 2 hours from now, tomorrow…
 What’s needed to ensure water system operability?
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20. “HELP?!?!”
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21. Who can Help?
 Agency Emergency Operations Center
 County Operational Area
 California Emergency Management Agency
(CalEMA)
 Mutual aid groups
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22. Mutual Aid/Assistance
 Aid verses Assistance
 Programs:
 Ca Master Mutual Aid Agreement
 California Water Agency Response Network
(CalWARN)
 Local Programs
 ERNIE
 WEROC
 Understand the Nuances
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23. Requesting Mutual Aid
 Description
 DETAILS!
 Resources offered
 Match what is needed?
 Is estimated cost and compensation being
considered?
 Agreement
 Costs
 Liability
 Commitment Needed
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24. Considerations for Mutual Aid
 Resource Management
 Access to disaster area
 When will they/it arrive?
 Staging Area
 Human Resource Care
 Rest prior to deployment?
 Where will they stay?
 Feeding and supplies
 Equipment Resource Care
 Tracking and demobilization
 Maintenance
 Operators
 Local knowledge
 Communications – Send a Manager if possible.
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25. Responding Agency Questions
 What costs will be reimbursed and when?
 Health precautions prior to deployment?
 Shots
 Psychological exam
 Behavior review
 What items do your crews need to take with them?
 Small (bug spray)
 Big (tires & fuel)
 Expensive (cash).
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26. Incident Demobilization
 Can you release mutual aid?
 Do they need to rest before leaving?
 Did you get all equipment back?
 Have all forms been filled out in full?
 Transition from “emergency response” to
“recovery”
 Return all non-expendable and unused supplies
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27. CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
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28. Keys to Communication
 Just Do It!
 Make it your message, not someone else's
 Train everyone one the basics
 They are always watching and listening
 Message Map
 Now do it in another language
 Now Practice
 Coordinate with Others
 Social Media
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29. FINANCE
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30. Disaster Purchasing Policy
 Who has what purchasing authority? What is their
limit?
 During a crisis what is your large contract bid process?
3 bids still required? Closed bid? Price based?
 Under what conditions are your policies enacted? At
what point must it go back to your elected board for
review or approval?
 How can credit cards be used? By who?
 What is the account limit on open POs? What is your
process to authorize a PO?
 Do you have COLD HARD CASH?
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31. Disaster Finance Musts
 Emergency Fund/Accounts with sub-accounts for each project
 “CYA”
 Contacts change and they don’t always agree
 Keep proof of responses; if verbal follow-up with an email
 Understand the FEMA Public Assistance Categories (FEMA PA
GUIDE)
 Safety Assessment; not damage assessment
 Ca Disaster Assistance Act
 “Don’t take action because you might get reimbursed. Take
action to protect your customers and the public.”
 Consider Hazard Mitigation Actions before you start to rebuild
 Denied? Go back and ask again
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32. Documentation
 Excel Cost Tracking Document
 People, equipment, supplies, building/infrastructure
 Example document on CD
 Photo Documentation Process
 Pre and Post
 All buildings, equipments and infrastructure
 Documentation Notebook
 Pictures
 Rulings by the board
 Receipts
 Declarations
 Logs
 Hours/times/mileage
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33. WRAP UP
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34. Personal Preparedness
 Know what disasters are probable
www.myhazards.calema,ca.gov
 Register with a reverse notification system
 http://portal.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/alertla
 Buy emergency supplies
 Have a family communications plan
 Join a Community Emergency Response Team
(CERT)
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35. Our Systems Will Still Break
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36. Quick Exercise
1. Identify 5 hazards specific to your agency.
2. Circle the 2 biggest threats.
3. Of those 2 which 1 are you least prepared for?
4. What 2 specific actions could make your
agency better prepared for that incident?
5. Name 1 person or agency that can help
with each action.
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37. What Went Wrong
 “We don’t see what we don’t want to see. We don’t
want to think about scary things. That’s just
human nature.”
 “The flaw at Fukushima was that worst-case
tsunami predictions were exceeded…”
 Planning & Preparedness is based on:
 What is imaginable.
 What we allow ourselves to believe.
 We can only plan for what we can foresee and
understand as possible.
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38. “Remember the Calamity
of the great tsunamis.
Do not build homes
below this point.”
Kelly Hubbard
Municipal Water District Of Orange County
Water Emergency Response Organization Of Orange County
Khubbard@mwdoc.Com
(714) 593-5010
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