Improvements in disaster preparedness at the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) have won the agency a statewide award.
CFPUA announced itself this past week as the 2013 recipient of the N.C Water Works Association and Water Environment Association’s (NCAWWA-WEA) Large Utility Disaster Preparedness Award. It won the same honor in 2010.
A press release from CFPUA, formed five years ago, said notable improvements included stronger incident training and participation in a number of “comprehensive tabletop exercises both inside and outside the organization.”
It also employed the latest storm surge and inundation models from the National Weather Service “and plotted them against all of the Authority’s infrastructure,” said the release. “As a result, CFPUA gained the ability to create real-time maps of storm surge during future events to determine which parts of its infrastructure will be impacted the most.”
The authority said that means it can have its equipment ready for quick response after storms.
“We supply nearly 200,000 people with their drinking water from a coastal location susceptible to tropical weather. Because of this, CFPUA must pay particular attention to being as ready as we can be for our customers when disaster strikes,” Jim Flechtner, Interim Executive Director, is quoted as saying in the release. “We are proud to be thought of as an industry leader in emergency preparedness across the state.”
NCAWWA-WEA is a 3,000-plus-member volunteer organization representing utilities, firms, suppliers and educators.
“As a result of its continued leadership in the area of emergency preparedness, CFPUA staff has been called on to present their best practices to NCAWWA-WEA and other utilities across the state,” the authority’s release said.
