Letter: Why we are in danger of having no water in a power outage [Video]

In 2018, The president’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) “found existing national plans, response resources, and coordination strategies would be outmatched by a catastrophic power outage.” As a result, Congress enacted AWIA of 2018. This act imposes upon community water systems duties of assessing the assets and operations for risk of interruption due to natural and cyber events. Also, water systems are required to prepare an emergency response plan. Funding is matching federal government grants/loans. This proactive approach is getting off on the right foot.

The AWIA programs are biased towards diesel generators! Transmission and distribution equipment is funded on a limited basis. Here, things moved to the wrong foot! The matching funds and cost of transmission and distribution assets, and required analyses exceeded the budgets of water systems and states. EPA review is hands-off! EPA only checks if water systems submit certifications.

AWIA obligates water systems to coordinate emergency …