New Weather & Hydrologic Forecasting Resource

In partnership with NOAA and Water Sector representatives, EPA has just published a new resource document – Weather & Hydrologic Forecasting for Water Utility Incident Preparedness and Response. The document describes and provides links to all-hazards and event-specific resources that are instrumental for both maintaining seasonal awareness and monitoring active hazardous weather.

As an example, within the resource, the River Observations, Forecasts and Experimental Long-Range Flood Risk map and Excessive Rainfall Forecasts tool can provide water sector utilities with a more precise awareness of how intense precipitation may affect their system, thus allowing them to mitigate damage to their facility and resources.  The document also discusses the value of water utilities and their response partners building a relationship with their local NOAA Weather Forecasting Office to promote resilience at a local level.

Weather & Hydrologic Forecasting for Water Utility Incident Preparedness and Response is part of a larger effort to make the resources on EPA’s Water Security Division webpages more useful for utilities during actual emergencies. Additional updates include emergency response contact information for every state (posted) and Action Checklists for specific incidents (in development).  You can find all of these resources on EPA’s Emergency/Incident Information page: water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep.