The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative and EPA Region 1 is providing a series of free webinars for wastewater utility owners and operators in New Hampshire and Massachusetts that have been and/or will be issued NPDES permits that contain new major storm and flood event adaptation planning requirements. Utilities from other states in EPA Region 1 can also benefit and are also welcome to attend.
Participants will learn how to successfully develop an Adaptation Plan to meet operation and maintenance requirements for wastewater treatment systems and/or sewer systems.
SESSION 1: Tuesday, March 5, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
- Explore climate trends and projections for New England, highlighting how these changes can affect wastewater utilities now and into the future.
- Become familiar with the CRWU tools and resources available for assessing climate risk at your utility, including the Climate Data Maps, Resilient Strategies Guide (RSG) and Climate Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT).
- Examine a utility case study example detailing how a MA wastewater utility has used CRWU tools to enhance resilience and mitigate climate risk to its system.
SESSION 2: Thursday, March 7, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
- Summarize provisions for major storm and flood event adaptation planning requirements in EPA Region 1 NPDES permits.
- Apply what participants learn to their system’s vulnerability assessments and asset planning to meet new permit requirements.
SESSION 3: Tuesday, March 12, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
- Practice CREAT Module 1: Climate Awareness, which covers inputs of basic utility information to increase awareness of climate change impacts.
- Practice CREAT Module 2: Scenario Development, which covers understanding risk & designing scenarios of threats based on climate change projection data.
SESSION 4: Tuesday, March 19, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
- Practice CREAT Module 3: Consequence and Assets, which covers outlining potential consequences and cataloging critical assets.
- Practice CREAT Module 4: Adaptation Planning, which covers how to inventory current actions that develop resilience and how to design adaptation plans.
SESSION 5: Tuesday, March 26, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
- Practice CREAT Module 5: Risk Assessment, which covers assessing risk from a changing climate and evaluating adaptation plans.
- Interpret the CRWU Adaptation Case Studies Map for Water Sector Utilities.
SESSION 6: Thursday, March 28, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET
- Discuss available resources for financing climate resilience and adaptation projects.
- Learn how to apply for suitable funding programs.
As part of the training, participants will complete short, optional homework assignments to reinforce skills learned in sessions.
Twelve (12) credit hours/Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available for participating certified wastewater operators from Massachusetts and New Hampshire (applications pending). Participants must attend all six, two-hour sessions to be eligible for the 12 credit hours/CEUs.
Partial credit may be awarded on a case-by-case basis. To be awarded credit hours/CEUs, participants must register individually and complete the survey provided after the training series is completed.
To register, visit the Zoom webinar registration link at Climate Resilience Training for EPA Region 1 Wastewater Utilities. The deadline for registration is Monday, March 4. For more information about EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities initiative, visit www.epa.gov/crwu.
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