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
-------
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
------- |