When disaster strikes a town and outside help is needed, there's a big item that often doesn't get high priority.
"Water utilities usually aren't at the top of the list. But to enhance recovery, you need water and wastewater treatment," said Laurie Dougherty, executive director of the Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association, whose office is in St. Charles.
(Courier-News File)
To address that issue, Dougherty is part of a 20-member committee that's been working at a grassroots level for about two years to get the Illinois Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network, or ILWARN, off the ground. The effort is similar to mutual aid agreements between municipalities for police and fire services so that extra manpower and equipment can be provided in emergencies.
Last week, Elgin took a step toward joining the effort when the city council moved along an agreement to become an ILWARN member. It's expected that the measure will be formalized at an upcoming regular council session.
Like Dougherty, Kyla Jacobsen, Elgin's water system superintendent, is a member of the ILWARN steering committee.
According to the document Jacobsen helped draft for Elgin, the group's "purpose is to provide aid to others in the network when a disaster strikes. Disaster can be from simply the loss of water due to power failure, localized flooding or water main breaks, up to and including earthquakes and tornadoes. The purpose is to have a standardized mutual aid agreement that establishes the ground rules between agencies well in advance of a disaster, so that responding utilities can provide aid quickly to fellow water and wastewater utilities in need of assistance."
So when disaster strikes, "You can have people with the understanding and knowledge you need in place," Jacobsen said.
This aid is not to supersede federal or state help that might be coming, but "allows for a neighbor to bring in experts and equipment while bigger help is on the way," Dougherty said.
While there is no cost to be part of the network, reimbursement for incoming services rendered and equipment borrowed typically will be the responsibility of the community requesting assistance.
In Illinois, Dougherty said that 61 utilities covering 70 percent of the state's population have registered to take part in ILWARN. Of those, 21 currently have approved agreements. In the Elgin area, the Fox River Water Reclamation District has signed on board, and St. Charles is in the process.
With ILWARN in its infancy, its only coordinating effort thus far has been helping the city of Chicago find sandbags earlier this year.
Across the country, 42 states and the Washington, D.C., metro area have adopted state or regional water-related mutual aid agreements, said Kevin Morley, security and preparedness program manager for the American Water Works Association.
Morley explained that such efforts began in California in the early 1990s after some natural disasters. A big challenge has been working out the legal issues that arise with intergovernmental agreements. And the movement built steam after the 2003-04 hurricane season when Florida firmed up its WARN agreements, Morley said.
That allowed water and wastewater crews from the Sunshine State to better help out in Alabama and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005. And getting interstate aid capabilities is the next challenge for AWWA and WARN, Morley said.
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