Working together to increase the resiliency of the region’s water supplies.
Consortium members have worked together for more than 25 years to increase the resiliency of the region’s water supplies. The Consortium’s emergency preparedness program supports its members in their own efforts by providing opportunities to learn and train together, cultivate partnerships, share experiences, resources, and knowledge with each other.
Program Elements
Drills and tabletop exercises: We conduct large-scale drills and tabletop exercises so water providers and their partners can practice responding to realistic scenarios that could affect the region’s water supplies.
Public outreach: We are committed to providing our members’ customers with the resources they need to safely store and treat water in an emergency because we know the public plays a vital role in our region’s ability to recover from large-scale disaster such as an earthquake. The Consortium currently promotes preparedness through a multimedia outreach program that includes TriMet bus ads, a television campaign, print materials and how-to videos. If you are prepared, water provider staff, first responders, and others will be able to focus on recovery and repair of our water systems.
Tools and Equipment: Since 2003 the Consortium has secured more than two million dollars in federal grant money to purchase emergency water treatment and distribution equipment and to prepare a regional study on water system interconnections.
Regional Partnerships: We collaborate with state and regional stakeholders to improve regional communication, emergency preparedness, response and recovery. The Consortium is a member of the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RDPO) and Oregon Emergency Management Association.
Support each other through mutual aid: We support mutual aid agreements such as the Oregon Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (ORWARN) so that when an emergency strikes, water providers are ready to help one another out.
Emergency Planning Committee: Consortium members meet six times each year to plan and implement regional emergency preparedness efforts.
What water providers are doing
Individually, water provider’s work focuses on ensuring that their water system can deliver you the water you need, when you need it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, water providers are completing seismic upgrades and other projects to make water systems more resilient.