https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE Expo
    • Calendar of Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Commentaries


Commentary

Water providers prepare for the worst, respond like the best in the face of natural and manmade disasters

Water providers prepare for the worst, respond like the best in the face of natural and manmade disasters

National Association of Water Companies Director Michael Deane discusses how water agencies should prepare for disasters, citing examples.
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 14th December 2016

By Michael Deane

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. You might have heard that advice from a parent growing up, or maybe a teacher or coach. When it comes to safe, clean water – essential to life – there’s nothing more important than preparing for the worst.

More needs to be done to replace the nation’s aging water infrastructure and to mitigate threats to the integrity of a community’s water system due to natural or manmade causes.

Since every part of our society is water-dependent, it is absolutely essential that water utility operators have made preparations for any possible scenario. Whether it’s the snowstorm of the century or a widespread power outage, it’s important to have a plan in place to protect the health and safety of customers. On opposite ends of the country, two private water companies have recently demonstrated exemplary performance in times of crisis.

Middlesex Water, with customers primarily in New Jersey and Delaware, often finds itself in the path of severe weather coming up the Atlantic coast. Preparation includes strategic planning sessions, regular ongoing communication with local emergency management, fire and health officials and municipalities throughout the year, and frequent customer education on everything from hurricane preparedness, protecting against frozen pipes to staying hydrated in soaring temperatures.

Middlesex’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Bernadette Sohler, explained their philosophy. “We are responsible for providing service 24/7, 365 days a year,” Sohler said. “So even in two feet of snow, on a major holiday or in a brutal heatwave, our customers can be confident that our Operators are at their posts ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of water and wastewater service. We conduct regular operations exercises to model potential scenarios and to establish points of contact, procedures, communications and overall coordination so that when a weather or emergency event does arise we are better prepared to respond and mobilize as a team for the benefit of our customers.”

This level of preparation was particularly timely during Hurricane Sandy, when Middlesex faced the challenge of providing service to a population of 400,000 amidst multi-state power outages.  Faced with loss of power over an extended period, the Company fortunately was ready with standby power generation designed for such events. and actively leveraged local networks, its website and social media to keep customers informed.  Middlesex partnered with entities in New Jersey and Delaware to obtain scarce fuel supplies to keep facilities running in the aftermath of one of the most destructive storms in history in the Northeast.

Nearly 3,000 miles away, in June 2016, California Water Service (Cal Water) coped with an unprecedented fire in Kern County, California, where 300 homes were destroyed – the majority of which belonged to Cal Water customers. The fire caused a power outage across the service area, which in turn impacted Cal Water’s operations. The company mobilized crews from across the state to assist in response efforts, and in just 48 hours the affected facilities were up and running again.

“Thanks to our ability to bring in resources from across California, and the experience and professionalism of our employees, we were able to get our systems back up and running in short order after power was lost,” said Chris Whitley, the Local Manager of Cal Water’s Kern River Valley service area.

Cal Water also worked with the entire community – not just its customers – to distribute bottled water from an adjacent service district, and share timely information about the unfolding crisis and its impact on critical services. They communicated frequently and actively on social media, and participated in press conferences with city officials, first responders and community partners to distribute timely information throughout the event.

But the work doesn’t stop once the crisis is over and services are stabilized community-wide. As Middlesex’s Sohler notes, “Every event is different with unique circumstances so our team conducts post-event operations assessments and risk management meetings to learn how we can improve and refine our plan to enhance our response and resiliency efforts. This approach employed on all levels of disasters help us to be disciplined, focused and consistent in our approach.”

Water professionals understand the absolute necessity of being prepared for a disaster, but they also understand the importance of the day-to-day maintenance of their water systems. This is a tall order when one considers the fact that, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are more than 240,000 water main failures each year costing more than $3 billion annually, excluding the cost of equipment, traffic disruptions, and lost work time.

Until disaster strikes, it’s not surprising most Americans take for granted the 24-hour, seven-days-a-week availability of clean, safe drinking water. But every day water professionals across the nation work tirelessly to maintain the integrity of an invisible and complex network of pipes, pumps, valves and tanks to ensure water systems are reliable for the communities they serve. 

 

Michael Deane is the executive director of the National Association of Water Companies. 

_____________

To get connected and stay up-to-date with similar content from American City & County:
Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter
Watch us on YouTube

Tags: Public Works & Utilities Commentaries Commentary

Most Recent


  • citizen
    How to move to a citizen-focused engagement model
    We know that engaged citizens play a critical role in helping make government agencies more transparent, more effective and more accountable. In fact, putting increased attention on digital government services and the citizen experience was ranked as one of the biggest changes that state chief information officers expected to continue post-pandemic. But too often, many […]
  • last-mile
    How green last-mile infrastructure benefits your community
    Overseeing transportation is one of the most important jobs of municipal leaders as it underpins a wide range of aspects within a municipality, including its economy, community connectedness and the health of the local environment. One of the most deceptively challenging elements of effectively overseeing transportation is the development of last-mile transit infrastructure. That is, […]
  • metal buildings
    Metal buildings: Their versatility and durability suit them for public sector infrastructure
    Some cities and counties are looking at one structure type to help them meet their infrastructure needs, says Phil Skellorn, senior structural engineer at Buro Happold, an engineering and consulting services firm. “Some public owners are looking at metal buildings as an economical option.” Skellorn says metal buildings can offer advantages if the off-the-shelf product […]
  • parking
    The future of parking in the 15-minute city
    At first glance, the 15-minute city spells the end for the parking industry. Designed specifically to cut emissions from private car usage, the city planning model calls for decentralized neighborhoods where residents can live, learn, shop and work without needing to drive. The 15-minute city would enable people to get anywhere they need to go […]

Related Content

  • NLC releases State of Cities 2021 report
  • How local governments can get ahead of the infrastructure wave: Strategies to mitigate risk
  • Prioritizing rapid restore leads to stronger ransomware attack recovery
  • Ultrafast electric vehicle charging will propel local governments into the future

WHITE PAPERS


5 reasons why Plan Examiners need Objective Trapeze

30th May 2023

7 Permitting & Licensing Fails Slowing Community Growth

24th May 2023

The Secret Ingredient to Local Government Employee Retention

23rd May 2023
view all

Webinars


How to Centralize and Build a Grants Management Process at your Organization

24th May 2023

Making Permitting Easier: What We’ve Learned Helping America’s Largest Cities Improve Their Permitting Process

16th May 2023

Digital Property Tax Collection: Tales from the Trenches of Modernization

16th May 2023
view all

Podcast


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

GALLERIES


10 best suburbs for city-like living

1st June 2023

Gallery: Annual index ranks America’s top performing cities; most are in the West

30th May 2023

Gallery: Top 10 American cities for seasonal and summer jobs

25th May 2023
view all

Twitter


Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.