Emergency Planning for Community Water Systems: A Friendly Heads-Up as 2026 Approaches  

If you work in or around a community water system, you already know this: everything is fine… until it very much isn’t. 

Storms, power outages, main breaks, cyber incidents, supply chain hiccups: none of these are hypothetical anymore. Add in extreme winter weather, drought conditions, water quality concerns, and growing public expectations, and the margin for error keeps getting smaller. As 2026 approaches, emergency planning requirements are catching up to that reality. 

Across the country, community water systems will be expected to complete or update key emergency planning documents under federal and state regulations. The goal isn’t paperwork for paperwork’s sake. It’s preparedness. It’s protecting public health, and it’s keeping essential services running when conditions are anything but routine. 

Emergency Planning Isn’t What It Used to Be (and That’s a Good Thing) 

Emergency planning has grown up. Today’s requirements reflect a broader and more interconnected risk landscape: climate-driven events, aging infrastructure, workforce constraints, cybersecurity concerns, and increased reliance on digital systems. 

Under the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA), and increasingly aligned state rules, systems are required to periodically evaluate risks and document how they’ll respond. These plans show up during sanitary surveys, factor into funding conversations, and increasingly influence how regulators, elected officials, and the public assess system readiness. 

In short, emergency planning has moved from the “binder on the shelf” category to a core part of utility leadership and governance. 

The Two Big Building Blocks 

Most requirements boil down to two connected efforts: 

Risk and Resilience Assessments (RRAs)
Think of these as the honest self-assessment. What keeps you up at night? Flooding? Power loss? Cybersecurity? Supply chain interruptions? Single points of failure during winter storms or peak demand periods? RRAs help systems identify vulnerabilities and prioritize what actually needs attention, not just what’s loudest at the moment. 

Emergency Response Plans (ERPs)
ERPs answer the “what happens next” question. Who does what, who calls whom, how information flows, how service is maintained, and how recovery happens. Strong ERPs are practical, current, and usable, whether the issue is a major main break, a water quality advisory, or a prolonged weather event. 

The challenge, of course, is fitting this work into already full schedules. 

Time, Capacity, and the Reality on the Ground 

No surprise here: staffing is tight, priorities compete, and institutional knowledge isn’t always written down. Meanwhile, regulatory expectations continue to expand, and operational pressures don’t pause for planning cycles. For communities facing staffing gaps or leadership transitions, CSS also provides interim DPW Director services, helping ensure continuity while longer-term solutions are put in place.  

Emergency planning also intersects with other ongoing issues utilities are managing every day: winter operations and salt use, water conservation messaging, public communication during advisories, PFAS response planning, and long-term infrastructure investment decisions. Treating these as separate conversations can make planning harder than it needs to be. 

Communities that start early have options. Those that wait tend to scramble. 

Early planning makes it easier to align emergency preparedness with capital planning, budgeting, sustainability goals, water conservation strategies, and broader organizational resilience. It also reduces the stress of racing toward a deadline with limited bandwidth and helps avoid reinventing the wheel when the next challenge arrives. 

A Little Planning Now Goes a Long Way Later 

Communities that take a proactive approach to emergency planning tend to respond more confidently when real events happen. Thoughtful plans help clarify roles, strengthen coordination across departments, and build trust with regulators, elected officials, and the public. Just as importantly, they make life easier when the unexpected shows up, whether that’s a January cold snap, a summer drought, or something no one saw coming. 

As 2026 gets closer, now is a smart moment to take stock: What plans are current? What needs updating? Where could coordination be stronger? And where could planning efforts better support day-to-day operations, not just compliance? 

Capital Strategic Solutions works with water systems to navigate complex regulatory environments, strengthen operational planning, and support long-term water and wastewater system resilience. Our goal is to help communities move from “we should probably update that” to plans that are practical, current, and ready when they’re needed and that connect emergency preparedness to the broader realities utilities face every day.