Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
WEF to provide vulnerability assessment
resources and training focused on nation's small drinking water system
WaterWorld 5/21/2003
Alexandria, VA, May 20, 2003 -- The Water Environment Federation
(WEF) through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will
be providing a series of train-the-trainer workshops and resource kits designed
to assist the nation's small drinking water systems with reducing their
vulnerabilities to man-made threats and natural disasters.
Building on the success of the WEF/EPA wastewater program, this new effort will
train officials from state, local, and tribal governments, as well as
not-for-profit organizations who will, in turn, be tasked with providing free or
low cost training to community water systems serving up to 50,000 individuals.
In particular, WEF will be coordinating these sessions with the Association of
State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), the professional association
serving state drinking water programs.
Five separate two-day workshops will be offered by the Federation beginning with
a June 26-27 session in Boston, MA. The workshops are by invitation only and
will feature VSAT(tm)water, the Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool developed by
the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA), in collaboration with
PA Consulting and SCIENTECH, Inc.
VSAT(tm)water, along with VSAT(tm)wastewater for wastewater utilities and
VSAT(tm)water/wastewater for joint utilities, provides a comprehensive,
intuitive system for a utility to analyze their vulnerability to both
intentional threats and natural disasters. Trainers will also receive
information on other major vulnerability assessment tools currently available to
small drinking water systems, and on emergency response planning requirements
and resources.
According to WEF Executive Director Bill Bertera, "WEF is pleased to continue
our partnership with EPA to provide innovative training programs on water
security. In particular, WEF is pleased to provide this training to benefit the
nation's small drinking water systems that face similar challenges as the
nation's large systems of reducing their vulnerabilities, but often without the
same resources to address these challenges."
Below is a list of the five workshop sessions. For more details on the program
contact James K. Sullivan at 703/684-2436 or to register call 703-684-2400 ext.
7090 or visit www.wef.org.
WEF VSAT(tm)water Train the Trainer workshops:
June 26-27: Boston, MA
July 17-18: Dallas, TX
September 9-10: Chicago, IL
September 23-24: Jacksonville, FL
October 11-12: Los Angeles, CA
Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit
technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who
work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water
environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 79 Member
Associations in over 30 countries.