Key Council Recommends POTW Workers Receive Top Priority for Pandemic Vaccine Distribution; Pandemic Preparedness Guidance Released
Several reports issued in early 2007 explain the U.S. government’s
strategy for dealing with an influenza pandemic and help businesses
plan their own strategies. A report by the National Infrastructure
Advisory Council (NIAC), The Prioritization of Critical
Infrastructure for a Pandemic Outbreak in the United States Working
Group, (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/niac/niac-pandemic-wg_v8-011707.pdf)
categorized 608,000 water and wastewater treatment employees as Tier
1 critical employees and recommended to the Department of Homeland
Security that they be given priority for vaccinations in the event
of an influenza pandemic. NACWA and the Association of Metropolitan
Water Agencies provided considerable input to NIAC on this issue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report,
Interim Pre-pandemic Planning Guidance: Community Strategy for
Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the United States – Early,
Targeted, Layered Use of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions, which
can be downloaded by clicking on
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/community/mitigation.html.
The report emphasizes “social distancing,” or minimizing contact
between people, as the most effective intervention method. Social
distancing will require schools and daycare centers to close for
four to 12 weeks, requiring many working parents to stay at home
with their children. Businesses should plan for high rates of
absenteeism resulting from school closures and employee illness.
Additional planning guidance for businesses is contained in a report
from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Guidance
on Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic, which is
available at
http://www.osha.gov/Publications/influenza_pandemic.html. |
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Grants Announced for Infrastructure Protection and State and Local
Counterterrorism
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released its fiscal
year 2007 grant guidance and application kits for nearly $1.7
billion in the Homeland Security Grant Program for state and local
counterterrorism efforts and for $445 million in funding for state,
local and private industry infrastructure protection initiatives.
Specific information about the grant programs and how to apply for
the funds is available on DHS’s website at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/odp/welcome.html.
Specifically, the 2007 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) will
award nearly $1.7 billion to enhance the ability of states,
territories, and urban areas to prepare for, prevent, and respond to
terrorist attacks and other major disasters. HSGP funds can be used
for preparedness planning, equipment acquisition, training,
exercises, management, and administration in order to obtain
resources that are critical to building and sustaining capabilities
that are aligned with the Interim National Preparedness Goal and
respective State and Urban Area Homeland Security Strategies. The
2007 Infrastructure Protection Program (IPP) will award roughly $445
million in funding for state, local and private industry
infrastructure protection initiatives. The five programs which
comprise the Infrastructure Protection Program (IPP), have provided
to date more than $1.5 billion in grants to strengthen security at
critical facilities ranging from chemical plants to mass transit
systems and seaports. |
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EPA Expands Data, Adds Wastewater Treatment Category to Water
Security Tool
EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water announced the
expansion of the Water Contaminant Information Tool (WCIT), a
secure, online database profiling chemical, biological, and
radiological contaminants of concern for drinking water and
wastewater utilities. EPA added a comprehensive data set on 45 new
contaminants of concern— bringing the total number of contaminants
in the database to 93. Moreover, for all 93 contaminants, EPA has
expanded the scope of WCIT by including four new data categories,
including one for wastewater treatment. The other categories are
drinking water treatment, environmental impacts, and infrastructure
decontamination. As the Agency noted in its release, improving the
data on WCIT “enables water utilities, public health officials and
federal, state and local agencies to better plan for and respond to
intentional or accidental contamination events.” Wastewater
utilities can access the site but, given the sensitivity of the WCIT
data, access to the tool is tightly controlled via
password-protection. To apply for access to WCIT, visit EPA’s
website at http://www.epa.gov/wcit. |
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