The ability to prepare food, stay clean and survive, all rely on having access to reliable and safe water. Communities require water for health, emergency situations, and everyday necessities. Water is crucial for daily activities and cannot be disrupted during times of crisis. Essentially, water is important to everyday life. It cannot stop flowing when disasters occur. Operating a water plant comes with a responsibility to the public. Water system operators should be ready to work when others are expecting to stay home.
Below you will find information on various topics to help you be better prepared should an incident affecting drinking water occur.
The United States enjoys one of the world's most reliable and safe supplies of drinking water. Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974 to protect public health, including by regulating public water systems.
How does your water system work?
ODW Emergency Resources
ODW Staff Contacts: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/drinking-water/contact-us/
For a cybersecurity incident: Call the Virginia Fusion Center first then call the ODW Emergency Services Coordinator or the Waterworks After Hours hotline number (See below)
Virginia Fusion Center
- VFC Mainline: (804)-674-2196, vfc@vsp.virginia.gov
- Cyber Intelligence Unit: vfccyber@vsp.virginia.gov
Private Well Information
- For information about private wells before and after a disaster please visit the VDH - Office of Environmental Health Services website at this link: Private Wells: What to do before and after a storm
Waterworks After-Hours Emergency Call Center: 1-866-531-3068
- This number is for waterworks with an after-hour emergency or need to reach staff during non-business hours. This 24-hr Call Center will take all pertinent information and contact appropriate staff.
Virginia Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (VA WARN)
Virginians helping Virginians
When an emergency happens whom can you turn to? What if you need a generator, work crew, or backhoe? Do you know where you could get some help? VA WARN is there to help fill that need.
About VA WARN
Based on other state WARN programs, VA WARN is designed to provide a utility-to-utility response during an emergency. The mission is to support and promote statewide emergency preparedness, disaster response, and mutual assistance matters for public and private water and wastewater utilities for natural and man-made events.
The VA WARN Web site facilitates emergency response by providing its members with emergency planning, response and recovery information before, during and after an emergency. As the nationwide WARN system expands; it will become easier to provide mutual aid to other states as needed.
The VA WARN Web site provides emergency contact numbers of members and an emergency equipment database that matches utility resources to a member's needs during an emergency. A member can locate emergency equipment (pumps, generators, chlorinators, evacuators, etc.) and trained personnel (e.g. treatment plant operators) that they may need in an emergency.
Benefits
- No cost to participate
- Increased planning and coordination
- Enhance access to specialized resources
- Provides access to resources during an emergency without pre-contractual limitations or retainer fees
- Expedites arrival of aid
- Utilities that signed the mutual aid agreement have a pre-established relationship under which they are able to share resources during an emergency at the discretion of each participating agency
- Is consistent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS)
- Provides a list of emergency contacts and phone numbers
- Reduces administrative conflicts
- Avoid federal bureaucracy
- Increases hope that recovery comes quickly
How to become a member:
- Go to http://www.vawarn.org/ and apply through the website.
- You can also contact the WARN by mail:
VA AWWA
PO. Box 11992
Lynchburg, VA 24506-1992
American Water Works Association
Emergency Planning Guidance
Below are some links to assist you in writing your emergency plans. There are also some templates to assist you in the planning process.
NOTE: Do not wait until an emergency to access these links. Develop your plan in advance so that it is available to guide you during an emergency.
- Emergency Response Plan Templates (PDF)
- Emergency Response Plan Checklist
- Incident Action Checklist
- Additional Guidance Documents
How Do I Identify Gaps in my Emergency Response Plan?
The planning cycle includes four phases. The first one is Plan for Emergency Response. You must write an initial plan based on a template and your water system. Now you have a plan that is waiting for an emergency.
In order to exercise the plan you should simulate an emergency incident. By doing so you will be able to:
- Test the plan for ease-of-use. Can you grab it and quickly identify the proper response to an emergency?
- Simulate contact with agencies that you may need in an emergency. You may have to work with police officers, fire fighters, emergency managers, hospital officials, lab personnel, and state regulators during an emergency. Do all of these partners know to whom they should communicate?
- Begin training staff in the Incident Command System (https://www.fema.gov/incident-command-system-resources) and the National Incident Management System (https://www.fema.gov/national-incident-management-system). These are nationwide protocols for setting up emergency response at any location in the United States. Using these methods will maximize effectiveness of emergency response by using a common language and cooperating with the emergency response community.
You do not want to test your plan during an actual emergency. Completing a Tabletop Exercise will test your plan before the emergency happens.
What is a Tabletop Exercise?
FEMA defines a tabletop exercise as a facilitated analysis of an emergency in an informal, relatively stress-free environment. This type of exercise elicits constructive discussion as participants examine and resolve problems based on existing operational plans and identify where those plans need to be refined. Tabletop exercises will typically involve many people representing a number of different organizations.
What support can the Virginia Department of Health – Office of Drinking Water offer?
ODW can work with you to create and conduct a tabletop exercise specific to your water system. ODW can assist you with coordinating with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and your local Emergency Manager to ensure all stakeholders are part of the planning process. ODW can help in the development of scenarios and timelines. This will reduce the amount of planning and preparation needed to set up a tabletop exercise.
Additional Guidance on tabletop exercise:
America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA)
Congress enacted the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA; P.L. 115-270) on October 23, 2018. With AWIA, Congress passed an omnibus water infrastructure and project authorization bill that affects several federal agencies. The act includes several provisions related to drinking water, with overarching themes involving drinking water infrastructure affordability and water system compliance capacity and sustainability. Title II and IV of the AWIA have the greatest impact on waterworks. Title II of AWIA constitutes the most comprehensive amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) since 1996. Title IV amends U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-administered water infrastructure programs and several Clean Water Act authorities.
Title II amends SDWA to help communities achieve SDWA compliance, revise the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program, reauthorize appropriations for the DWSRF program, and increase emphasis on assisting disadvantaged communities. Provisions in Title II also revise emergency notification and planning requirements; authorize the use of DWSRF funds for the assessment and protection of drinking water sources; identify options intended to develop public water systems’ technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and improve consumer confidence in public drinking water supplies.
Title IV addresses several other water quality and infrastructure issues by authorizing and revising activities and programs for the EPA and other federal agencies. Title IV extends, authorizes, and amends drinking-water-related activities and programs administered by EPA. Specifically, these provisions authorize WaterSense, an EPA-initiated voluntary water efficiency-labeling program, and revise the Water Instructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) financial assistance program. The WIFIA program provides credit assistance for water infrastructure projects. Other provisions authorize grant programs for innovative water technology and for water sector workforce development. Title IV also amends the Clean Water Act to expand a municipal sewer overflow grant program to include stormwater management projects, reauthorize appropriations for that program, and direct EPA to establish a task force for stormwater management.
The details of these changes are in the Congressional Research Services report found here:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/search/#/?termsToSearch=R45656&orderBy=Relevance
Risk and Resilience Assessments
Following the passing of AWIA the EPA did away with vulnerability assessments and replaced them with a new Risk and Resilience Assessment. They also added an Emergency Response Plan requirement. These requirements only affect waterworks servicing a population greater than 3,300. The EPA is phasing these new requirements in over the next two years based upon the population sized serviced by the waterworks. Below is a table for when these requirements will be due.
| Population Served | Risk Assessment | Emergency Response Plan |
| ≥100,000 | March 31, 2020 | September 30, 2020 |
| 50,000-99,999 | December 31, 2020 | June 30, 2021 |
| 3,301-49,999 | June 30, 2021 | December 30, 2021 |
For information about the new EPA requirements can be found here:
As new materials and assistance becomes available the Office of Drinking Water will continue to update this section with that information.
Infrastructure Security Resources
ODW partners closely with other commonwealth and federal agencies and organizations to provide water utilities with tools and methods to identify, prioritize and respond to threats to Virginia’s drinking water systems. Please visit our Waterworks Cybersecurity Webpage for more information.