Preparing Your Wastewater System for Disasters and Emergencies

A disaster or emergency can hit anywhere, anytime. Wastewater treatment is a critical service in your community, which cannot go without this service for very long without running into serious trouble. Treating wastewater protects the health of your community’s residents and the environment, and a disaster or emergency could disrupt treatment and put the health of your community and/or environment in jeopardy. So it pays to be prepared so you can keep or resume treatment in your system to the best of your ability in a bad situation.

This video is for the owners – board or other governing body – and staff of your wastewater system. It identifies some of the many ways that systems should prepare themselves for disasters and emergencies, whether they originate inside or outside the system.

Federal law requires any utility serving more than 3,300 people to complete a vulnerability assessment and emergency-response plan. Some states and federal funders also require these for smaller water systems.

(While this video is aimed at wastewater systems, many of the things in it also apply to drinking water systems.)