EPA Utility Resilience Program Retools Online Resources

EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) program has released new versions of three online tools that utilities can use to inform their preparedness and mitigation planning efforts. The CRWU program provides drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities with practical tools, training, and technical assistance to help these utilities prepare for drought, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events.

The Storm Surge Inundation Map has been reformatted to make it easier to use. It also now includes storm surge data for Puerto Rico. This tool allows utilities to anticipate how hurricane and severe storm-related flooding may affect their service areas and features three tabs: Hurricane Strike Frequency, Storm Surge Flooding, and FEMA Flood Zones.

The Resilient Strategies Guide, which serves as an introduction to extreme weather event adaptation planning, has been revised. With the guide, utilities can learn how to implement strategies to prepare for extreme weather events, to include generating a new Planning Worksheet that documents the resilience strategies relevant to them.

The Adaptation Case Study and Information Exchange has been updated and now contains more than 40 stories highlighting utility resilience efforts across the U.S. This tool consists of an interactive map describing a variety of utility approaches to long-term planning for and adaptation to extreme weather conditions.