Response Protocol Toolbox Planning For And Responding To Drinking Water Contamination Threats And Incidents Response Guidelines

The EPA released the interim final Response Protocol Toolbox: Planning for and Responding to Drinking Water Contamination Threats and Incidents (the Response Protocol Toolbox) in winter of 2003 and spring of 2004 to help the water sector effectively and appropriately plan for and respond to contamination threats and incidents. Since its release, EPA has received feedback and suggestions from several sources concerning improvements in the Response Protocol Toolbox. These Response Guidelines have been developed to provide an easy to use document for field and crisis conditions. While the Response Protocol Toolbox provides detailed information, the Response Guidelines are to be viewed as the application of the same principles during an actual incident. As stated in the definition of Response Guidelines in Module 1, Section 4.3 of the Response Protocol Toolbox, Response Guidelines are different from an Emergency Response Plan in that they are essentially a field guide for responding to contamination threats and can be developed in many different formats. This document is intended to be an action oriented document to assist drinking water utilities, laboratories, emergency responders, state drinking water programs, technical assistance providers, and public health and law enforcement officials during the management of an ongoing contamination threat or incident. The Response Guidelines are derived from the content of the six full modules of the Response Protocol Toolbox. The Response Guidelines are not intended to replace the Response Protocol Toolbox and they do not contain the detailed information contained within the six complete modules. Finally, users are encouraged to adapt the Response Guidelines as necessary to meet their own needs and objectives.

As a water utility manager, your role in water security planning and threat response is critically important. This Water Security Handbook was developed by the U.S. EPA to help you, the water utility official, protect your water system and respond effectively to threats and contamination incidents involving your water system. EPA also wrote this Handbook in response to calls for a short, simplified document that summarizes the comprehensive document entitled "Response Protocol Toolbox: Planning For and Responding to Drinking Water Contamination Threats and Incidents" (also known as the Response Protocol Toolbox). The Handbook is also intended to be a companion to EPA's "Response Protocol Toolbox: Planning For and Responding to Drinking Water Contamination Threats and Incidents: Response Guidelines." The "Response Guidelines" provides many forms and checklists to help you organize and carry out your emergency response and planning efforts. This Handbook describes the basic concepts and procedures involved in water security planning and threat response. Together, the Handbook and "Response Guidelines" provide succinct recommendations concerning water security planning and response actions.

Concise and readable, Drinking Water Security for Engineers, Planners and Managers provides an overview of issues including infrastructure planning, planning to evaluate vulnerabilities and potential threats, capital improvement planning, and maintenance and risk management. This book also covers topics regarding potential contaminants, available water security technologies, analytical methods, and sensor technologies and networks. Other topics include transport and containment of contaminated water, treatment technologies and the treatability of contaminants. Threat and vulnerability risk assessments and capital improvement Identification and characterization of potential contaminants and clean up Application of information assurance techniques to computerized systems

Water and wastewater utility managers will find expert guidance on all issues regarding security and emergency preparedness and response in this book. The terrorist attacks on the US of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, brought heightened concern over the security and emergency preparedness of America's water supply infrastructure--concerns which remain high to this day.