DISASTER MITIGATION & EMERGENCY RESPONSE

George Weber, Inc. Environmental can assess the vulnerabilities of a community and its infrastructure to a wide range of threats and develop emergency plans for responding to an event that occurs.

Vallecito Reservoir During Missionary Ridge Fire,
San Juan Mountains, Colorado
(Source: Unknown)

Potential threats to communities and infrastructure include natural hazards such as floods, drought, and wildfires, or human activities that are unintentional (e.g., spills, leaks) or intentional (e.g., vandalism, sabotage, terrorism). Communities impacted by one event frequently are hit with a complex series of subsequent events. A recent Colorado example is the catastrophic forest fires, followed by flash flooding and severe erosion that significantly damaged regional water storage and conveyance facilities and drinking water quality.

We can assist public water systems (i.e., source, drinking, waste, and recreational) in assessing their vulnerabilities, developing emergency response plans, and complying with applicable federal and state requirements.

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George Weber, Inc. Environmental developed the vulnerability assessment for the Town of Eaton, Colorado, drinking water system under the umbrella of a joint venture with Summit Technical Resources, a minority owned small disadvantaged business (SBA 8a). Weber modified ASSET software to be more appropriate for small community water systems in the Rocky Mountain region, and applied it to this system.

The Town of Eaton requested George Weber, Inc. Environmental to support their effort to achieve the federal requirement to produce and implement an emergency response plan for the drinking water system. Weber modified and is using the VSAT ERP module as the basis for this effort.

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George Weber, Inc. Environmental supported several drinking water systems in Wyoming to develop vulnerability assessments (VAs), emergency response plans (ERPs), and federal certification documents as required by the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.

Weber reviewed the variety of VA tools available by Fall 2003, and selected ASSET as most appropriate for the circumstances of the technical assistance effort. Weber modified the ASSET approach to encompass the types of threats most probable for small Rocky Mountain drinking water systems and to strengthen the accounting for potential threats inside perimeter fences and buildings.

Weber evaluated the, then changing, array of EPA guidance documents for developing an ERP for a drinking water system. The VSAT ERP module became available during the Summer 2004. Weber selected this tool, making minor modifications in order to account for the use of the ASSET based approach in the prior VAs, and to integrate data that was developed intentionally in these to begin to establish a foundation for the subsequent ERPs.

The project was a team effort for the assisted communities and our client, the Region VIII EPA Safe Drinking Water – Wyoming Direct Implementation Program. Weber provided the substantive expertise and experience in VA and ERP methods to the prime contractor, Summit Technical Resources, a minority owned small disadvantaged business (SBA 8a). Robert Fiehweg, now of Fiehweg Environmental Consulting LLC, provided the substantive expertise and experience in drinking water system engineering.

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George Weber, Inc. Environmental supported the City of Fort Collins Utilities, Colorado, in developing its vulnerability assessment using the RAM-W approach and in refining its emergency response plan at the client's request, under subcontract with CH2M Hill. Weber participated in all workshops to develop the VA. His primary responsibility was the substantive lead for source water component of the system.

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Relevant to the workshop approach for involving utility staff in developing vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans, Weber has experience planning and conducting workshops and conferences. For the EPA Region VIII Safe Drinking Water Program, he developed and conducted outreach and training for utility, labor, business, educational, and government personnel in carrying out Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. EPA headquarters staff cited one of these projects, addressing the ban on lead materials, to EPA National Administrator Reilly as the 'best stakeholder mobilization project in the country in 1988. Weber also facilitated regional Native American Tribes to incorporate an organization addressing shared environmental problems and developed and facilitated training programs for the EPA Region VIII Tribal Program.

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Weber also developed or managed development of different aspects of community, regional, and Tribal wastewater facility plans for the EPA Region VIII Clean Water Program. He provided technical assistance by managing development of a wastewater utility management plan for the Cucharas River watershed in Southern Colorado, a municipal facilities plan for Ignacio, Colorado on the Southern Ute Reservation, a facilities plan for Pine Ridge, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, site selection for two septage-holding tanks and land disposal facilities on the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota, and environmental assessments and Findings of No Significant Impact' under the National Environmental Policy Act for wastewater facilities on the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. He also conducted assessments of Tribal and rural wastewater utilities financial and administrative structures.

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Weber has developed state and local plans for mitigating losses from natural hazards. He developed the planning process and intergovernmental sections of the Colorado Landslide Mitigation Plan for the Colorado Office of Emergency Management, and made related presentations to the Western Seismic Council and Western Regional Social Scientists. He developed a model community flood hazard mitigation plan and applied it to the City of Sheridan for the Wyoming Disaster and Civil Defense Agency. As a student, he studied under Gilbert F. White and wrote a graduate thesis assessing the Vail, Colorado adjustment to snow avalanche hazards.

Click here to view larger image Xeriscape Garden - A Positive Adjustment to Drought (Source: Anne Gifford)

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