Utilities Helping Utilities:An Action Plan for Mutual Aid and

Assistance Networks for Water and Wastewater Utilities

Objectives

• What is a WARN

• Why consider WARN

• Linkage to national homeland security programs

• Supporting water sector initiatives

• Benefits of a WARN

• Status of WARN nationally

• Getting Involved Locally

What Is A WARN?

• Network of utilities helping utilities

– Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN)

• United by a common enemy

– Natural disasters

– Human-caused disaster

– Not a corporation or a governmental unit

• Utilities organized within a state

– By agreement

– To help each other with personnel and resources

Why WARN?

• Past disaster response and lessons learned tell

us:

– Utility operations are specialized

– Utilities must be self-sufficient

– Utilities must fill the gap between disaster onset and

arrival of other government aid

• FEMA is muscular, but not very agile

– Water restoration provides hope

Why it Works – Bridges the Gap

1/8/2007 - 2/13/2007

Initial Emergency

2/15/2007 - 3/27/2007

Emergency ResponseAgreement

4/8/2007 - 5/16/2007

StatewideMutual Aid/Ast

2/14/2007 - 5/18/2007

WARN Activation

5/20/2007 - 7/7/2007

Interstate Mutual Aid/Ast

1/8/2007

Emergency Occurs

4/8/2007

Declared Emergency

5/18/2007

Governor Declaration

7/7/2007

Recovery

WARN does not require state or federal declaration and includes private utility resources.

TIME

National Preparedness Goal

• Purpose is to help entities at all levels of

government develop and maintain the

capabilities to prevent, respond to, and recover

from major events or incidents of national

significance.

– Key Priority: Expand regional collaboration through

mutual aid agreements and assistance compacts

National Incident Management System (NIMS)

• Full compliance with NIMS is an eligibility

condition for all federal preparedness assistance

grants for state, territorial, tribal, & local entities in

FY 2008.

– These criteria include formalizing mutual aid

agreements with surrounding communities and states

for the purposes of sharing equipment, personnel, and

facilities during emergencies.

The National Response Framework (NRF)

• The purpose of the NRF is to organize the Federal

response and how it will engage state and local entities

• Emergency Support Function #3, Infrastructure

– USACE is lead with support from EPA

– Prescribed mission assignments under development to improve

response

• All incident response begins at the local level

Water Sector Initiative: WARN Policy

• Joint policy statement, Feb

2006– 8 major water organizations

– Encourages the creation of

intrastate mutual aid &

assistance networks

– Provides for greater water

sector resiliency against

natural or manmade incidents

Water Sector Initiatives: WARN Action Plan

• Utilities Helping Utilities,

March 2006

– Outlines 10 key steps in the

formation of a WARN

– Includes sample agreement

that satisfies NIMS and has

been recognized by DHS

NIMS Integration Center as

a model agreement

Who’s Involved?

• Utility owner/operators

• Professional association representation – (AWWA, NRWA, WEF, sanitation association, etc.)

• State water and wastewater primacy agencies – (State health, environmental protection, etc.)

• State emergency management and/or homeland security agency

– (State EMAC coordinator) (Emergency Management Assistance Compact)

• US EPA region representation

Benefits of Having a WARN Agreement

• Increases planning & coordination

• Provides an emergency contact list

• Enhances access to specialized resources

• Expedites arrival of aid – Again: FEMA is muscular and provides support, but is not agile

• Reduces administrative conflict – Signed agreement in place

– Workman’s comp, indemnification, etc. identified

• Increases community and customer hope – The right resources with the right skills are available

WARN Response

• California– Northridge Earthquake,

1994– El Nino Storms, 1998– Sonora Fires, 2001– Hurricane Katrina, 2005– So California Fires, 2007

• Florida– Hurricane Katrina, 2006– Tornadoes, 2007

• Texas– Rain Bomb and Hurricane

Humberto, 2007

• Oregon– Detroit Blizzard, 2008

• Colorado– Alamosa, 2008

Next Steps on National Scale

• Learn from success/challenges of existing programs

• Increase number of intrastate aid networks– Initially targeted states on the Gulf and Atlantic seaboard

• Develop a national aid network– Incorporation of WARNs into a national preparedness system

– Facilitate development of resource typing for the Water Sector (both drinking water and wastewater)

– AWWA is working with Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) Advisory Council to facilitate interstate aid and assistance

January 11, 2011

Progress Review

October 2008 (31)

January 2011 (47)

“The WARN Ultimatum”

Population Served by IdWARN Member UtilitiesAs of January 31, 2011

Utility Water Wastewater Both Population

Utility 1   x 3,226

Utility 2   x 35,180

Utility 3   x 1,100

Utility 4 x   185,787

Utility 5   x 800

Utility 6   x 1,300

Utility 7   x 259

Utility 8   x 205,314Utility 9   x 3,643

Utility 10   x 27,300

Utility 11     x 75,290

Utility 12     x 5,630

Total Utility Members (signed WARN Agreement)       12

Total Population Served       359,042

% of State Population       36%

State Population 2008 Census 1,523,816

(see Population Finder at http://www.census.gov/)

Reported Capability &

Reach

WARN Program # of Signatory Utilities

% State Pop. (2000 Census)

AZWARN 17 72

CalWARN 255 90

FlaWARN 225 75

IDWARN 12 36

ILWARN 36 60

INWARN 58 35

LaWARN 35 33

MAWARN 49 25

MDWARN 6 25

MIWARN 11 6

MNWARN 85 46

NCRWARN 5 72

NCWater WARN 8 28

NDWARN 11 15

NHWARN 58 49

NYWARN 65 17

Sooner WARN (OK) 41 24

PAWARN 44 59

TNWARN 13 18

TXWARN 777 75

UTWARN 25 32

WisWARN 21 28

WyoWARN 8 40

• Makes case with partners

• How to share?

•Ops Plan

•Resource Typing

Resource Typing Manual

• Purpose is to provide common

set of terms for requesting and

providing certain resources

that only water sector utilities

are likely capable of providing

• Follows FEMA guidance for

typing resources which is

focused on teams that could

be deployed in response to an

incident

www.NationalWARN.org

www.NationalWARN.org

• Upgrading to report each WARN info in

more user friendly format

– WARN POC (email/phone)

– Link to Website (if available)

– Link State Emergency Management

– Copy of WARN Agreement (if no website)

– Other Information

• # of Signatories

• % population

National WARN Kevin M. Morley

Security & Preparedness Program ManagerAWWA – Government Affairs1300 Eye Street, NW Suite 701W

Washington, DC 2005202-326-6124 or kmorley@awwa.org

The Bottom Line - Resiliency

• All emergencies are local and require a local

response capability.

• A signed mutual aid agreement will enhances

local utility’s preparedness and overall

resiliency against any disaster.

• In its most basic form, a mutual aid and

assistance agreement is a low or no-cost

action that helps ensure the continuity of

operations of the water infrastructure vital to

the well-being of every community.

IDWARN PARTICIPATION

If your emergency response organization, or your local

water/wastewater utility are interested in participating in

IDWARN, please forward your e-mail and contact

information to:

Bill Carr, UWID (208) 362-7369

Don Lee Idaho DEQ (208) 373-0502

Or go to: www.idwarn.org

This organization meets by phone conference monthly.