The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sharing a new opportunity for water sector utilities to receive free support in identifying, assessing, and planning for natural disasters and hazards. The new Strengthening Water Infrastructure for Tomorrow (SWIFT) initiative offers a wide range of support to drinking water, wastewater, and storm water systems tailored to each utility’s interests and needs.
Technical assistance promotes a better understanding of natural hazards and their impacts on vulnerable assets, providing the guidance needed to make risk-informed infrastructure and investment decisions. SWIFT provides location-specific natural hazard data and practical risk assessment tools to identify and evaluate resilient strategies. Risk assessments help utilities understand their natural hazard threat likelihood, assess their critical asset vulnerability, and perform preliminary cost-benefit analyses of potential infrastructure projects aimed at reducing risk.
Finally, SWIFT also makes connections to infrastructure financing that help utilities fund the implementation of their hazard resilience projects. If you are interested in receiving SWIFT technical assistance, please contact Aliza Furneaux (furneaux.aliza@epa.gov).