Batten Down the Hatches—Assessing the Status of Emergency Preparedness Planning in the German Water Supply Sector with Statistical and Expert-Based Weighting

Lisa Bross,Steffen Krause,Ina Wienand

doi:10.3390/su12177177

Abstract

Emergency preparedness planning in the water supply sector includes preventive measures to minimize risks as well as aspects of crisis management. Various scenarios such as floods, power failures or even a pandemic should be considered. This article presents a newly developed composite indicator system to assess the status of emergency preparedness planning in the German water supply. Two weighting methods of the indicators are compared: the indicator system was applied to a case study and a Germany-representative data set. The results show that there is a need for action in emergency preparedness planning in the German water supply. This is in particular due to a lack of risk analyses and insufficient crisis management. Numerous water supply companies and municipalities are already well-prepared, however, there is a need for action at several levels, especially in the area of risk analysis and evaluation of measures. In Germany, responsibility for this lies primarily with the municipalities.

Highlights

The corona pandemic in 2020 affects society, as well as essential services such as the water utilities, in a new and profound way [1]
The determination of the status of emergency preparedness planning was implemented by means of a data set of the research project NoWa I which is representative for Germany
Effective emergency preparedness planning is characterised, among other things, by the fact that its process steps can be carried out with foresight and the defined measures can be effectively put into practice in emergency situations

Summary

Introduction

The corona pandemic in 2020 affects society, as well as essential services such as the water utilities, in a new and profound way [1]. Critical infrastructures like water utilities and the provision of their vital services in such a scenario have an outstanding importance to a nation’s society. Their failure or degradation could result in sustained supply shortages, which affect public health, economy and national security. Impairments cannot be completely avoided, so that water supply companies have to deviate from normal operation, e.g., in the event of pipe bursts. Such minor disturbances occur comparatively frequently and have only minor effects [3]. Causes can be serious natural events, man-made accidents or intentional attacks [8,9], whose probability of occurrence is constantly increasing [10]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion