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April 2023 Newsletter
The Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative provides drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater (water sector) utilities with tools, training, and technical assistance needed to increase resilience to climate change.
CRWU promotes a clear understanding of climate change and helps to identify potential long-term adaptation options for decision-making related to implementation and infrastructure financing.
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Upcoming Climate Resilience Trainings
April 12, 2023 - New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana
CRWU will host a free, regional training for the 66 federally recognized tribal water sector utilities in the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. This in-person training was developed in collaboration with the Southwest Environmental Finance Center and will be held at the AMERIND offices in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.
May 23, 2023 - Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA)
ITCA is partnering with CRWU to host a one-day in-person workshop targeting the needs of their technical assistance providers. After the workshop, attendees will be able to use CRWU tools and resources to provide climate change technical assistance to water sector utilities. The training will also take place at the AMERIND offices in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM.
August 2023 - Tulsa, Oklahoma
In coordination with CRWU, the Cherokee Nation is developing a climate resilience training for the 38 federally recognized tribes located in the State of Oklahoma. This training will target tribal water sector utilities and the rural water districts that assist those utilities. This free, regional training will take place in Tulsa, OK.
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Technical Assistance Updates
Since October 2022, CRWU provided technical assistance to 22 water sector utilities conducting climate change risk assessments. In March 2023, CRWU began technical assistance assessments with eight new utilities:
- Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
- Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority in South Carolina
- Orange Water and Sewer Authority and Salisbury-Rowan Utilities in North Carolina
- Pueblo of Laguna Utility Authority in New Mexico
- Town of Dumfries and Prince William County Service Authority in Northern Virginia
- Atlantic County Utilities Authority in New Jersey
Each water sector utility is using either CRWU’s Resilient Strategies Guide or the Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool to understand how climate change impacts their utility assets and operations and identify adaptation strategies to address those vulnerabilities. As these assessments are completed, CRWU will begin providing technical assistance to additional communities, moving closer toward our goal of working with 50 utilities by the end of September 2023.
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Credit Rating Report
Representatives from the water utility and financial sectors have formed a Workgroup to increase the mutual understanding of how to assess and manage climate change risks. The group examined how climate readiness impacts financial assessments, infrastructure investments, public outreach, and financial disclosures. The Workgroup’s final report, expected to be completed by August 2023, will provide a summary of information discussed during the meetings, including a description of the water utility and financial sectors’ observations of climate risk, aligning climate risk management strategies to strengthen water utilities’ positioning in the financial and insurance markets, small water utility challenges, and opportunities for further discussion and to share this information.
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