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   States and Water/Wastewater Agency Response

   Networks (WARNs) Working Together

   State WARN Perspectives Study Highlights

   These highlights from the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA)
   Security Committee 2014 project identify how states collaborate with and support their
   WARNs. These findings, taken from input provided by 32 states on their experiences with
   their state WARNs and a webinar that showcased five different state-WARN collaboration
   models, offer a series of examples and opportunities that may inspire other states and WARNs
   to work more closely in concert to create their own success stories. This project was complet-
   ed through support from EPAs Water Security Division.

   Inclusion in Emergency Operations Centers
      The California Division of Drinking Water has established a Water Sector-specific
      position at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to support coordination
      among utilities and other partners.
      The Florida Department of Environmental Protection established a position at the
      SEOC for a WARN liaison.
      In Maine, a Department of Health and Human Services representative deploys to the
      Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and the state primacy agency provides the
      representative with information.

   Recruiting
      The New York Department of Health (DOH) at every opportunity — including meetings
      with local and state agencies — encourages utilities to join NYWARN and promotes it.
      The New Hampshire Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau set up a "refer a friend"
      promotion to encourage WARN membership (annual fee waived for new members and
      those who referred new members).
   >  A letter sent by the Utah Division of Drinking Water Director to water utilities encouraging
      them to join UT WARN was instrumental to its founding.
      The Maryland Department of Environmental Protection actively promotes the state's
      WARN and encourages membership.
                Unfed States
                SenTental Protection

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Advocacy and Communication
   Illinois, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee and Indiana all see their role as advocating for and
   coordinating between state WARNs and state Emergency Management Agencies and/or
   EOCs in times of crisis.
   Delaware and Maine both provide support for promotional materials such as brochures
   and information for new WARN members.
   South Carolina, Idaho, Iowa, Colorado and Oklahoma provide for at least one state
   WARN member to have access to WebEOC or other Web-based emergency operations
   software used by the state Emergency Operations Agency.
   Of the 32 responding states, Washington, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Missouri are among
   those with shared access to 24x7 emergency contact lists among WARN members.
Funding
   The New Hampshire Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau used an EPA security
   grant to hire a circuit rider dedicated to promoting the WARN concept statewide and
   developing a WARN operations plan.
   The Florida Department of Environmental Protection used an EPA security grant to fund
   the management of FlaWARN, including its website.
   New Jersey has established a cost-sharing arrangement with NJ Rural Water, which
   administers the WARN.
   Interestingly, Pennsylvania reported that its state WARN is self-funded through
   member dues.

Training and Exercises
   The New York Department of Health (DOH) has encouraged NYWARN members to
   attend the SEOC orientation training.
   New York DOH conducted three training sessions for NYWARN members,  including 22
   operators from 11 counties, to teach them  how to run filter units (as smaller systems
   might need the units but may not have the manpower to run them).
   The New Hampshire Emergency Management Agency and the Drinking Water and
   Groundwater Bureau are collaborating on  plans to conduct exercises to improve
   their coordination.
   Hawaii provides support for WARN conference and workshop participation.

For More Information
Go to asdwa.org and click on the Security tab to see the webinar and survey results.
Click on the Links tab to find Web addresses and contact information for all state drinking
water programs.

                      Office of Water (4608T) EPA 817-F-15-019 July 2015

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