United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
                Water Health and Economic Analysis Tool
 Purpose

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with drinking water and wastewater
 (water) sector partners has developed the Water Health and Economic Analysis Tool (WHEAT). The tool
 is designed to assist drinking water utility owners and operators in quantifying public health impacts,
 utility financial costs, and regional economic impacts of an adverse event, based on a variety of asset-
 threat combinations that pose a risk to the water sector. Existing WHEAT modules currently analyze two
 event scenarios - the release of a hazardous gas and the loss of operating assets in a drinking water
 distribution system - and provide information that can be used as part of a comprehensive risk
 assessment. Future WHEAT modules will analyze drinking water contamination and wastewater system
 hazardous gas releases and loss of operating assets scenarios.

 The WHEAT methodology, summarized in Figure 1, uses a step-by-step process that assists users in
 conducting a consequence analysis. Users are able to easily enter information about their utility, build and
                                                              run a consequence analysis
                                                              scenario, and generate a report that
                                                              summarizes the potential public
                                                              health impacts (i.e., injuries and
                                                              fatalities), utility financial costs,
                                                              and regional economic impacts.
Risk Assessment
 Methodologies
                                         WHEAT
                                   (Consequence Analysis)
                                   (Hazardous Gas Leak, Loss of
                                    Assets, or Contamination)
                                 Financial Costs /
                                    Regional
                                   Economic
                                          Impacts
                                         (Numbers
                                                              WHEAT Consequence
                                                              Analysis Process
                                                              The loss of operating assets module
                                                              estimates economic consequences;
                                                              the hazardous gas release module
                                                              estimates public health and
                                                              economic consequences. Utility
                                                              financial costs are based on the
                                                              extent and duration of loss in water
                                                              service and the extent of damage to
                                                              operating asset(s). The tool
                                                              considers impacts to water sales
                                                              revenues, changes in utility
operating costs during an incident, and infrastructure repair and replacement costs. Regional economic
impacts are proportional to the extent and duration of disruption of normal water service and take into
account the resilience of affected businesses and their ability to adapt to an adverse event. WHEAT
includes six main steps to perform a consequence analysis. These steps and the associated functions are
described below and are illustrated in Figure 2.
        Risk Assessmen
        Risk Management
                                  Conseguence  I  Conseguence
                                  Economic Bin  I   Health Bin
                        Drinking water contamination module and
                        wastewater functionality are in progress.
 Figure 1: WHEAT will integrate seamlessly into water sector
 risk assessment methodologies.
    1.  Utility Information - Users input basic utility operational information, including population
        served, volume of demand, and area covered, as well as financial inputs including revenues,
        expenses, and costs.
                                               1
                                                                      WHEtfT
                                                                      WAT E RHralth *Econom'r
                                                                                    I Analysis Tool

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    2.   Scenario Selection - Users select a scenario for analysis (hazardous gas release or loss of
        operating assets), then specify the particular hazardous gas scenario and utility assets affected.
    3.   Water Service Restrictions and Restoration Profile - Users specify the likely effects the
        incident might have on service, including any outages or restrictions. Users are then asked to
        indicate the likely response actions that would be taken by the utility and the approximate time it
        would take to provide regular service.
    4.   Public Health Consequences Analysis - Calculates public health consequences of the proposed
        incident in terms of the estimated number of injuries and fatalities. Public health consequences
        are directly linked to the number of people exposed and the type, overall quantity, concentration,
        and duration of exposure to the hazardous gas release scenario defined by the user.
    5.   Economic Consequences Analysis - Calculates economic consequences of hazardous gas
        releases and loss of operating assets in terms of utility financial costs and regional economic
        impacts. Economic consequences are directly linked to the duration and extent of disruption in
        regular water service resulting from the proposed incident.
    6.   Summary Reports - Includes a summary of user-provided utility information and a report
        detailing the health and economic consequences resulting from the proposed incident. Results are
        presented within standardized health and economic consequence bins under the Risk Analysis
        Management for Critical Asset Protection framework - providing compatibility and consistency
        with water sector risk assessment tools (e.g., VSAT, SEMS, and RAM-W).
 Utility Information
  (Financial and
   Operational)
Scenario Selection
(Loss of Assets or
 Hazardous Gas
    Release)
 Water Service
Restrictions and
  Restoration
   Profile
 Public Health
Consequences
  Analysis
  Economic
Consequences
  Analysis
Summary
 Reports
Figure 2: WHEAT Consequence Analysis Process

Features
    •  Provides a step-wise tutorial to build scenarios by asking users a series of questions related to
       their specific utility. Where appropriate, WHEAT provides users with preliminary estimates;
    •  Allows users to analyze the consequences of the release of a hazardous gases and loss of
       operating assets for drinking water systems;
    •  Enables users to save and reuse utility information for multiple analyses;
    •  Allows users to save input data at any point during the process and return at a later time;
    •  Creates summary reports in Microsoft Excel format;
    •  Generates a single report that includes multiple analyses; and
    •  Includes a help page at each step of the  analysis to guide the user.


Contact
WHEAT will be available for download, and is  scheduled for release in the fall of 2010.
For more information, contact Curt Baranowski of EPA at baranowski.curtigiepa.gov.
Office of Water (4608T)
          EPA817-F-10-013
                September 2010      http://water.epa.gov/drink
                                                                               WHEAT
                                                                               WAT E RHralth *Econom'r
                                                                                      I Analysis Tool

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