Emergency Response Plan for Drinking Water Systems in First Nations Communities

Action not Reaction

When an emergency happens you should immediately take the necessary actions to resolve it, not stand around wondering what you should do first or next. A properly prepared, well thought-out ERP will tell you exactly what to do and whom to contact so that a response can be rapid and effective to avoid or minimize any disruption or contamination of your water system.

In order to be prepared you have to be familiar with your community drinking water system and be able to foresee various types of potential problems that could affect water quality or quantity. Then you should identify specific solutions to each of those problems before they occur. Conditions that would require drinking water advisories (including boil water advisories), requests for assistance, advice about using alternate water sources, and other possible concerns should all be identified in advance. When an emergency happens, it is critical not to waste time deciding whom to call and what to tell people. The act of planning for an emergency may actually help you prevent one from happening; by identifying and implementing mitigation measures, you may be able to prevent or minimize the effects of an emergency. Mitigation measures should be part of your ERP and are discussed in more detail in Section 3.

The next sections of this Guide provide several examples of situations requiring an emergency response as well as recommendations for appropriate actions to be taken under such circumstances. The list is by no means exhaustive and you may be able to identify some other types of situations. This document should be used as a guideline for outlining your own community-specific ERP.

List of Contacts

At a minimum, your ERP must include a list of all people and agencies that need to be contacted for notification of emergency, troubleshooting, servicing and assistance. This includes system owners and operators, repair people, alternative water suppliers, media representatives and government agencies and, of course, the people who draw water from your system. You should complete an ERP Contacts List as shown in Appendix A of this Guide and post it on the wall of your office.

Your ERP should be organized into several logical sections so that information is easy to find. The following are some key elements that should be included in your ERP.

Introduction

The introduction of your ERP should explain its purpose, goals, and overall organization, and should describe the roles and responsibilities of community members involved, including the drinking water system operator(s). Stating a mission and goals for emergency response is an important first step because it helps focus on the important aspects of the plan. The mission statement should reflect the duty to provide safe and reliable drinking water and protect the health and safety of community members.

The goals for your ERP should include:

• Take actions to mitigate and prepare for emergency situations
• Assess the type and severity of the emergency
• Notify key contacts and authorities
• Take appropriate and timely emergency response actions
• Take action to minimize system damage
• Return the system to normal operation

Defining clear roles and responsibilities for system personnel during an emergency speeds up response time and helps eliminate confusion. System personnel need to know who to report the emergency to, who manages the emergency, who makes decisions and what their own responsibilities are. Large systems may have a variety of persons involved on-site, whereas small systems may only have one person, usually the water system operator.

System Information

First Nation plant operators and administrators of waterworks should have the following information in their ERP. Consider developing a map of your community that shows the locations of these items to help with the fastest possible response:

• describe the raw water source;
• describe the water intake, treatment and storage facilities (e.g., chemical dosing devices, chemical storage bins, mixers, compressors, pumps, filters, finished water reservoir, etc.) as well as built-in redundancy features of the system;
• describe the distribution system (water mains, hydrants, other devices, etc.);
• describe critical control points (e.g., treatment plant control system—electro-mechanical, PLC and or SCADA, intakes, pump house(s), shut-off valves, connections between alternate sources, pressure zones, and power sources);
• describe equipment standard operating procedures;
• electrical schematics (including generators);
• location of your emergency contact list;
• storage location of tools and maintenance equipment;
• storage location of your O&M Manual; and
• provide a map of your community that shows the location of the items such as the ones below:
  • drinking water sources (wells, surface water intakes) and pump houses;
  • overall system layout including treatment plant, storage facilities and water distribution lines;
  • all built-in redundancy features of the system;
  • location of critical control points;
  • access routes, roads or trails to these critical control points;
  • high water-use businesses; and
  • high risk facilities such as schools, hospitals, day care centres and nursing stations.

Mitigation Measures

If proper mitigation measures are in place, system components identified in the previous section can become less susceptible to encounter problematic situations, which in turn may cause harm. Mitigation measures refer to actions taken to eliminate or reduce the harmful effects of water systems emergencies.

Mitigation measures can be identified as part of broader community Water Safety Plan (WSP). WSPs are a means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking water supply through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. The development of a WSP encompasses more than emergency situations and is beyond the scope of this Guide. However, if a WSP is in place in your community, you should pull from it all of the mitigation measures that apply to your ERP.

In the absence of a WSP, you need to make a thorough evaluation of all the potential "trouble spots" or vulnerable points in your system. The goal of this exercise is to identify steps you can take now that will prevent an emergency from happening later. The following items provide a guide to mitigation measures. Describe in your ERP all features that apply to your water utility.

Mitigation at the water source includes the following:

• Having access to an alternate raw water source if situation allows. If not, make arrangements for obtaining water from suppliers (bottled water, bulk hauler).
• Restricting access of unauthorized persons by fence and gate.
• Facilitating access to the water source by utility staff (access by boat, road).
• Maintaining wells and surface water intakes.
• Having a source water protection plan (SWPP) and, if applicable, a wellhead protection plan. Developing SWPPs is outside the scope of this Guide; please refer to specific guidance on developing SWPPs.

Mitigation of treatment process failures consists of:

• Having the capacity to isolate the water plant from the distribution system through valves in case of contamination at the plant.
• Having power back-up generators and diesel pumps and ensuring availability of fuel.
• Getting trained on how to run utility systems manually when automated systems fail.
• Having spare parts, spare chlorine pump, etc.
• Having access to alternative sources of treated water through adjacent systems.

Mitigation of distribution failures consists of:

• Having spare parts available (valves, pipes, repair kits).
• Maintaining networks by replacing old, damaged, and poorly built components.
• Regular flushing, valve and hydrant exercising.
• Having redundancy by close-looping of networks and installing sufficient check valves, other control valves, etc.

Potential Emergency Situations

When preparing your ERP you should try to identify all situations that could make the water unsafe, prevent the flow of water, or pose a health risk. By evaluating all potential emergency situations or vulnerabilities of your particular system, you can identify steps that will enable you to respond quickly and appropriately in case of an emergency. Some of the potential categories you should identify include:

• contamination of source — spills, vehicle accident;
• loss of source (e.g., intake damaged, drought);
• malfunctioning water treatment plant;
• chlorinator failure;
• pump failure;
• electrical control malfunctioning;
• power failure;
• broken water main;
• backflow or back siphonage;
• flooding;
• earthquake;
• snow/windstorm;
• fire; and
• act of vandalism, terrorism or sabotage causing system disruption.

The O&M Manual and standard operating procedures for your system may list typical system malfunctions and related emergency situations, methods to prevent them, and actions required when they occur. This information comes in handy when developing an ERP.

Examples of possible emergency situations and corresponding responses are presented in Section 4. Once you have identified all possible emergency situations and response actions for your system, you should record this information in ERP Actions Lists as shown in Appendix B of this Guide.

Any of the above-mentioned emergency situations may trigger the need to issue a Drinking Water Advisory (DWA). Issuing and rescinding DWAs is a separate process that involves Chief and Council, the Environmental Health Officer (EHO), and other members of a Community-Based Water Team (CBWT). It is the responsibility of the Chief and Council to activate the CBWT and implement an action plan to address a DWA. In turn, it is your responsibility to coordinate ERP actions with the CBWT as appropriate. More information on DWAs can be found on Health Canada's web site at:

• Procedure for Addressing Drinking Water Advisories in First Nations Communities South of 60°

Communication Plan

Communication plays a key role in how well you are able to respond during an emergency. First, you must be able to alert all the users of your system as soon as possible, especially if there is a possible risk to their health from drinking the water you provide. Your particular communication plan depends more than anything else on the type of customers your system serves.

Section 5 provides more guidance on developing a simple and efficient emergency response communication plan.

Equipment Operation

Standard operating procedures for switching to alternate power supplies and/or maintaining generators, including schematics of electrical systems in pump houses, may also form part of your ERP, and should be located beside the equipment they refer to.

ERP Update and Training

Describe the ERP review and update process, evaluate the effectiveness of the ERP and provide information on the drinking water system's ERP training program. You need to update relevant components of the ERP when new water facilities are added or the existing system is altered. You must update your emergency contact list once per year or whenever your contact information changes, whichever comes first. As an operator, you need to make yourself familiar with the emergency response plan when starting the job and when the ERP is updated. It is also important to practise your ERP. A drinking water emergency response drill (or mock emergency) is recommended once per year.

Public notices

A simple flyer is an effective way to ensure that every household in the community is aware of the current situation regarding the drinking water. The key is to make sure that everyone gets the message that an emergency has occurred and that the water is no longer safe to drink. Some possible suggestions for the flyer include:

• Use bright paper to ensure that it is visible, especially for older community members (and always use the same colour paper for a water issue).
• Use readable, large type so that the message can be read by everybody.
• Post or tape the flyer to each house; don't simply place it in a mailbox or through the mail slot where it may be missed.
• Use the radio/telecommunications system if one is available in the community.

Phone trees/e-mail lists and web-based social networks

In the case of small or medium-sized communities your communications plan may include organizing a "phone tree." This is a pre-arranged plan that allows every household in the community to be contacted by telephone by their neighbors. People who have been phoned have their own list of other people to phone, who in turn have the names of others to phone, and so on down the line until everyone on the system has been alerted.

Many small communities already have some kind of "phone tree" or e-mail list, etc., system in place so they can respond quickly to other types of emergencies. For example, phone trees are used to alert local volunteer firefighters. Talk to your local fire chief; you may be able to use the Fire Department system for an emergency involving your water system. If you use a phone tree, it is very important to keep it up to date. Use and make the most of existing communication channels as much as possible, including chat rooms, Facebook, Twitter, etc. When using e-mail or other written communication, have a distribution list prepared in advance, and have pre-written notification messages.

A "phone tree" probably isn't necessary for very small wastewater systems with only one/two or a dozen connections all located near each other. In these cases, assuming that you as the wastewater operator are already at the scene, you can pass the word around just by knocking on a few doors and getting others to pass the word around as well so that all the users are made aware of the problem right away. If you are using a "phone tree" to send out a message to your community members telling them not to use the sewer system (e.g., flushing toilets, doing laundry) during the spill, make sure that people who either don't have phone lines or e-mail, or who aren't in when the call is made also get the message.

Keep a list of all the people and agencies you will need to contact, and the order in which you should contact them all in the event of an emergency. This will save you time when saving time is really important. It will also act as a checklist to make sure that you have contacted everyone you are supposed to. In addition, it will also help remind you of local resources that may be available to help you respond to an emergency if necessary.

Media

Local media such as radio, television and newspapers can also carry warnings to the community members if the situation is serious enough. Make sure you contact local media as part of your emergency planning to establish your credibility with them, and to ensure that if you ever do have to call they'll know who you are and how important it is for them to cooperate with you in alerting their readers or listeners.

Your emergency response communications plan should contain pre-written press releases in an appendix to streamline your interactions with the media and to make sure you don't forget to communicate all important and relevant information during an emergency.

Signs

If you are the owner of an operation that makes drinking water available to the public (i.e., a tap at a gas station that trailers or campers might use to fill up their water tanks, or a communal tap that people use to get their drinking water), you should hang a sign on the tap telling people that the water may be contaminated or unfit to drink. Include this in your emergency plan if this applies to you.

Appendix A. Emergency Response Plan | Contacts List Template

Appendix B. Emergency Response Plan | Actions Lists Template

Appendix C. Emergency Response Activity Record and Reporting Template

3. Title/Position:

4. Description of cause(s) of the incident:

5. Effect(s) of the incident/event observed:

6. Has any contamination of the water occurred?

7. Location of affected water:

8. Samples taken:

9. Actions taken:

10. Personnel and agency representatives Contacted:

11. Personnel and agency representatives on the scene

12. Further actions to be taken and when:

Appendix D. Material for Informing System Users/Community Members

Attach here your means of communication with system users/community members:

• 1. Phone tree
• 2. E-mail addresses list (save this list as a group in your e-mail software on your computer)
• 3. List of web-based social networks (save these links as "favorites" in your web browser on your computer)

Attach here pre-prepared messages for distribution to system users/community members:

• 4. Flyers for door-to-door distribution (have a stack of these ready)
• 5. Pre-written e-mail messages (save these on your computer at an easy-to-find location)
• 6. Pre-written messages for posting on Web-based social media
• 7. Pre-written press releases
• 8. Pre-written signs to be posted at locations where the public is susceptible to access potentially contaminated drinking water