Prepare for Hurricane Season 2023

EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water sent this bulletin at 06/06/2023 09:31 AM EDT

Know Your Risk. Prepare Now Before a Hurricane Strikes.

Hurricane season has arrived and peak hurricane season, mid-August through October, is quickly approaching. Do not wait until the skies turn gray and the rain starts to fall! Take advantage of blue skies now and check out EPA's tools and resources designed to help water and wastewater utilities prepare for and respond to hurricane impacts, such as flooding, high winds, storm surge, and power outages.

Build Flood Resilience

Flood Resilience Guide

The Flood Resilience Guide for water and wastewater utilities is your one-stop resource to know your flooding threat and identify practical mitigation options to protect your critical assets.

Storm Surge Inundation Map

Assess your utility's risk to a hurricane and mitigate flood damage by using the Storm Surge Inundation Map. On this interactive map you can view:

Historical hurricane tracks;
Hurricane strike frequency;
Storm surge flooding; and
Real time coastal storm advisories.

Get Back Up Power

Power Resilience Guide

Access the newly updated Power Resilience Guide to learn about strategies water and wastewater utilities can use to increase their resilience to power outages. This guide includes new information on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and funding.

Create a Plan for Your Water Laboratory

The Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) Template for Drinking Water and Wastewater Laboratories

The COOP Template provides recommendations to help plan ahead for emergencies where there may be a disruption in normal laboratory operations. This fillable PDF template is fully customizable to your laboratory and helps identify necessary resources to prepare for continued service during an emergency.

Be Ready to Respond

Water Utility Response On-The-Go Plus

WICRD has released updates to its app, EPA Water Utility Response On-The-Go Plus. This app is a one-stop-shop for the most important tools utility personnel need to respond to a water-related incident. The app helps you to increase situational awareness and coordination, take and track key response actions, and assess damage from the field.

Download the App Here

Hurricane Incident Action Checklist

Use this “rip and run” Hurricane Incident Action Checklist to respond to and recover from hurricane and tropical storm impacts. The checklist outlines key actions that can be taken immediately before, during, and after the event to mitigate impacts.

Find the Right Funding

Federal Funding for Utilities in National Disasters (Fed FUNDS)

Use EPA's Fed FUNDS tool to help your utility find the right funding before a hurricane strikes. Updates to Fed FUNDS includes:

New information on the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law;
Newly available grants and loans;
Updates to the Side-by-Side comparison feature;
Updates to the Search for the Right Funding tool; and
Tribal funding from EPA, FEMA, HUD, USDA, and HHS.

Stay Connected with the Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division (WICRD), formerly known as the Water Security Division

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