In June 2021 the City completed a Risk and Resilience Assessment (RRA) to comply with America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA). AWIA requires communities to certify to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they have completed a risk and resilience assessment. The RRA requires consideration of both malevolent acts and natural hazards that could compromise the continuity of service and places additional emphasis on the cybersecurity of process control systems, financial infrastructure (i.e. business/accounting systems), and associated automated systems.
In December 2021 the City completed an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) to comply with America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA). AWIA requires communities to certify to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they have completed an emergency response plan. The following are the AWIA required contents of an ERP; what is bolded/italicized are changes from the Bioterrorism Act requirements.
- Strategies and resources to improve the resilience of the system, including the physical security and cybersecurity of the system,
- Plans and procedures that can be implemented, and identification of equipment that can be utilized, in the event of a malevolent act, proximity hazard, or natural hazard that threatens the ability of the community water system to deliver safe drinking water,
- Actions, procedures, and equipment, which can obviate or significantly lessen the impact of a malevolent act, proximity hazard, or natural hazard on the public health and the safety and supply of drinking water provided to communities and individuals, including the development of alternative source water options, relocation of water intakes and construction of flood protection barriers, and
- Strategies that can be used to aid in the detection of malevolent acts, proximity hazards, or natural hazards that threaten the security or resilience of the system.