EPA’s Hazard Mitigation for Natural Disasters: A Starter Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities

EPA’s “Hazard Mitigation for Natural Disasters: A Starter Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities” is an interactive, user-friendly guide that details how utilities can mitigate natural disasters and their impacts. Utilities can use this guide to explore potential mitigation projects, which will help them better withstand and recover from natural hazard events, thereby increasing their overall resilience.

It is more cost-effective to mitigate the risks from natural disasters than it is to repair damage after a disaster. Indeed, the National Institute of Building Sciences has previously reported that, for every $1 invested in pre-disaster mitigation, organizations received $4 in savings. Specifically, the guide provides an overview of the mitigation process, along with practical examples of mitigation projects to address the impacts of earthquakes, tornados, floods, drought, wildfires, and power outages. The guide also encourages water and wastewater utilities to work with their local mitigation planners to implement priority projects using FEMA or other source funding.

Lastly, the guide includes a case study discussing how stakeholders used the approach laid out in the EPA guide to mitigate flood risks to water and wastewater utilities in the Florida Panhandle. WaterISAC originally shared this guide back in 2017, but we are sharing it again to highlight potential hazard mitigation projects water and wastewater utilities could undertake to enhance their resilience amid increasing extreme weather events. Access the full guide at EPA.