Creating Resilient Water Utilities Initiative (CRWU)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Creating Resilient Water Utilities (formally Climate Resilient Water Utilities - CRWU) initiative to assist water and wastewater utilities in preparing for climate change. CRWU offers a suite of tools and resources to promote the understanding of climate science, associated risks to the water sector, and pertinent adaptation options for utilities and communities to implement. EPA designed the CRWU resources to translate complex climate projections into usable formats - to assist in building a more resilient water sector.
The following resources have been developed under the CRWU initiative:
- The Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) is designed to aid the water sector in conducting risk assessments, evaluating adaptation packages, and understanding climate threats. The tool is available for free download at the CRWU web site.
- The Adaptation Case Study and Information Exchange is a website that features case studies showcasing adaptation strategies water sector utilities are deploying across the country.
- The 'Climate Ready Water Utilities Adaptation Strategies Guide' provides regional-specific climate science data and adaptation options that utilities can implement to avoid the negative impacts of climate change.
- A Scenario-Based Projected Changes Map to access a location's potential climate future, including projected changes in annual total precipitation, annual average temperature, annual number of days over 100 degrees F, 100-year storm intensity and sea-level rise.
- The Storm Surge Inundation and Hurricane Strike Frequency Map demonstrates worst-case coastal storm surge scenarios, FEMA's 100- and 500-year flood maps, and historical hurricane strike data for locations on the East and Gulf coasts.
Resources can all be found on the CRWU website, and within the water sector portal of the Adaptation Clearinghouse.
In order to maintain access to this website, we are linking to an archived version of the website saved on January 10, 2017. The original link can be found here: https://www.epa.gov/crwu
Related Organizations:
Related Resources:
- Adaptation Case Study and Information Exchange
- Climate Ready Water Utilities Adaptation Strategies Guide for Water Utilities
- Risks & Resilience: Considering the Integration of Climate Readiness into Financial Analyses of Drinking Water & Wastewater Utilities
- Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)
- Robust Planning to Support Decision Making Webinar
- Adaptive Response Framework for Drinking Water and Wastewater Utilities
- Coastal Storm Surge Scenarios for Water Utilities
- Climate Ready Water Utilities: Final Report of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council
- EPA Climate Change and Water Website
- Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) 3.0
Sectors:
Resource Category:
Resource Types:
- Planning guides
