--- title: How Municipalities Can Prepare for Extreme Weather description: It's important that municipal wastewater and water utilities prepare for major weather events. Learn methods utilities can use in emergency response plans. image: https://blog.envirosight.com/hubfs/Flooding%20Image%20v1%20%282%29.jpg --- [![Envirosight Sewer and Drain Inspection Equipment](https://blog.envirosight.com/hubfs/Images/new_logo_dark.svg)](https://www.envirosight.com/) - [Products](https://envirosight.com/products/) - [Capabilities](https://envirosight.com/capabilities/) - [Clients](https://envirosight.com/clients/) - [Service](https://envirosight.com/service/) - [Learn](https://envirosight.com/learn/) - [Company](https://envirosight.com/company/) - [Contact](https://envirosight.com/contact/) - [Get a Demo](https://inbound.envirosight.com/demo_request) [Back to recent posts](https://blog.envirosight.com/) # How Municipalities Can Prepare for Extreme Weather Posted by [Jordan Fues](https://blog.envirosight.com/author/jordan-fues) on Jan 31, 2023 Natural disasters are nothing new in the United States. In 2017 alone, the country experienced 16 extreme weather events including devastating hurricanes and raging wildfires. Extreme weather is on the rise. While local policymakers and health officials lead the charge to prepare for these disasters, municipal water and wastewater departments should participate in these efforts to help keep their crews, communities and assets safe and protected, and to ensure that [essential services](https://envirosight.com/service/) are maintained wherever possible. We’ve compiled a list of best practices to augment your utility’s extreme weather response plans and procedures.  ### Get Proactive![Flooding Hurricane Harvey](https://blog.envirosight.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Flooding%20Image%20v1%20(2).jpg?width=300&height=300&name=Flooding%20Image%20v1%20(2).jpg)  The most well-prepared utilities are those that start prepping for natural disasters long before they happen. Check out regional safety guidelines and emergency preparedness plans to keep yourself and your crew informed. Make sure that your department’s emergency response plans are readily available (in paper copies) and updated. Holding regular safety meetings is a great way to ensure your whole staff is prepared for any emergency scenario.  ### Connect Within Your Community  Resiliency is a team sport. Join your municipality’s emergency committee or consider developing one if none exists. Collaborating with other utilities, particularly electric utilities and other water and wastewater departments, can help better protect *all* of your area’s assets. Get to know a point person at your state or local emergency management agency. Join your state’s [Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN)](https://www.awwa.org/Resources-Tools/Resource-Topics/Water-Wastewater-Agency-Response-Network) to get a better idea of what regional resources and information are available to you before, during and after a weather event.  ### Document Your Response  It’s essential to keep a record of your utility’s actions both during and after a major event. Post-event, you can review your activities to determine what was successful and what can be improved upon next time. Keeping track of where service disruptions occur is also a good idea as this data can be used to identify potential vulnerabilities for the next climate event.  ### Establish a Solid Workflow  Ensure your utility has an established assessment workflow in place. A solid workflow provides an essential understanding of your assets’ condition, so your crew knows where to focus time and resources when recovering from one extreme weather event and preparing for the next.   If you’re looking for ideas to upgrade your current workflow, check out [the Phased Assessment Strategy for Sewers (PASS) workflow](https://inbound.envirosight.com/phased-assessment-strategy-for-sewers) from Envirosight. PASS helps utilities get a sense of sewer condition fast while minimizing resource use. Learn more by downloading the free PASS workflow below.  [![Download Now](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/530427/26c9f6aa-163d-474f-8152-c9293f878925.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/530427/26c9f6aa-163d-474f-8152-c9293f878925) Topics: [All Topics](https://blog.envirosight.com) [PASS](https://blog.envirosight.com/topic/pass) [Emergency Planning](https://blog.envirosight.com/topic/emergency-planning) [![Share on facebook](https://blog.envirosight.com/hs-fs/hubfs/facebook-icon.png?width=28&name=facebook-icon.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook) [![Share on linkedin](https://blog.envirosight.com/hs-fs/hubfs/linkedin-icon.png?width=28&name=linkedin-icon.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin) [![Share on twitter](https://blog.envirosight.com/hs-fs/hubfs/twitter-icon.png?width=28&name=twitter-icon.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&url=https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&source=tweetbutton&text=) [![Share on email](https://blog.envirosight.com/hs-fs/hubfs/email-icon.png?width=28&name=email-icon.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email%20&body=Check%20out%20https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email) ### Subscribe to Envirosight Updates ### Recent Posts ## About Envirosight Envirosight provides video pipeline inspection solutions to municipalities, contractors, departments of transportation, and civil/environmental engineers. Envirosight is committed to ongoing innovation, delivering products that enhance user productivity and inspection detail. Envirosight serves customers through a trained network of regional sales partners who deliver localized support and expertise with rapid turnaround.  #### Headquarters [111 Canfield Ave Randolph, NJ 07869](https://goo.gl/maps/fpZBKHxZpBcYKNEw8) #### Contact 866.227.9845 [mail@envirosight.com](mailto:mail@envirosight.com) #### The latest insights, delivered direct to your inbox. © Envirosight LLC. All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice. Envirosight, Quickview, Jetscan, Verisight, ROVVER, Digisewer, Haloptic, Outpost, Cleverscan and Preferred Build-outs are trademarks of Envirosight. Quickview carries patents 6,538,732 and 7,009,698; others pending. [Privacy Policy](https://www.envirosight.com/privacy-policy/)[Terms of Use](https://www.envirosight.com/terms-of-use/) ![](https://dc.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=298497&fmt=gif) ![](https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconversion/1072518429/?value=0&guid=ON&script=0) ![](https://dc.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=298497&fmt=gif) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jordan Fues" }, "dateModified" : "", "datePublished" : "2023-01-31 22:43:06", "description" : "It's important that municipal wastewater and water utilities prepare for major weather events. Learn methods utilities can use in emergency response plans.", "headline" : "How Municipalities Can Prepare for Extreme Weather", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.envirosight.com/hubfs/Flooding%20Image%20v1%20%282%29.jpg" }, "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.envirosight.com/how-municipalities-can-prepare-for-extreme-weather", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/530427/es_logo.jpg" }, "name" : "Envirosight" } } ```