The Water Supply Forum identified emergency drinking water provision planning is a regional vulnerability and thus, solicited the help of consultants to support emergency management capability for the greater Puget Sound area. The consultants developed a menu of equity tools for Forum members to utilize to reach vulnerable communities in preparation for and in response to regional emergencies: Decision Point Guide, Equity Toolkit, and Public Information Plan (PIP).
The Decision Point Guide and Equity Toolkit both offer an equity lens to emergency drinking water management and response, while the PIP provides a structure for integrating accessibility and equity into communication plans on how to obtain potable water in the event of an emergency. The three tools highlight the overlapping equity considerations that members need to be cognizant of during emergency planning and response.
The Decision Point Guide offers a practical application of decision-making using actionable solutions. It includes principles of equity, inclusion, transparency, and accountability, which should govern all aspects of disaster planning and emergency management to support historically marginalized or underserved populations in communities and neighborhoods.
The Decision Point Guide focuses on general issues of accessibility and the role of leadership, outreach, and policy in relation to emergency water services. The guide encourages the user to critically examine the presence of bias, personal motivations, past practices, historical inequities, and emerging inequities to identify the impact of decisions that limit access for demographic groups.
The Equity Toolkit is designed to provide emergency preparedness and disaster planning support to the Forum members and regional partners. It includes tools and resources to ensure inclusive and equitable disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, focusing on the needs of vulnerable populations. It includes key recommended resources to help individuals and/or organizations navigate broad scenarios or more specialized equity resources.
The Equity Toolkit is designed to guide members through the process of building equity-based knowledge and practices into the emergency management process. This includes building equity-based practices into prevention and mitigation, preparedness and resilience building, and response and relief efforts.
The toolkit introduces high-level concepts on equity-based emergency management and is then followed by additional components that cover individual emergency management phases. Each component can serve as a stand-alone resource, and some might find certain components are more relevant to their own needs than to others.
The goals of the Equity Toolkit are to increase understanding of what equity means as part of emergency preparedness and planning and how various entities play a role within your organization, provide better and more equitable services across communities, guide equity actions of community partners in response to emergency planning/response, and demonstrate how to better plan for emergencies to ensure access to water for vulnerable populations.
The PIP includes high-level goals and a vision for how best to provide public information communications to vulnerable populations in the event of an emergency. It also contains a listing of vulnerable population types, best practices on how best to consult with local leaders and influencers, steps for how to design a public information campaign and messages, and resource groups that can support during an emergency. The outlined structure of the PIP highlights the focus groups that require special attention due to socio-economic factors.
The PIP identifies external and internal resources that are needed to ensure care and attention are taken to the vulnerable populations specified in the PIP. Community partners and government officials need to take action, and the PIP will guide them on specific actions that can support emergency preparedness.
The communication strategies within the PIP are reflective of the vulnerable populations within the region. The strategies offer guidance on how to communicate an emergency plan’s specific messaging and translations that reflect the community demographic.
Within the PIP, tips on effective messaging and platforms also guide how to extend these communications to the appropriate populations, what needs to occur for this reach to happen and how. The PIP also outlines goals within each section, so users have a goal when implementing PIP strategies and a means of measuring progress.
The Forum recognizes the need for the region to prioritize emergency drinking water provision planning and ensure the plans reach all affected service areas, including vulnerable populations. MGT’s three equity tools help members incorporate crucial equity considerations throughout their organization from top to bottom and from preparation and planning stages to response and implementation. The Water Supply Forum promotes reliable delivery of safe, clean drinking water, and that purpose can only be achieved when all communities in the region can benefit from the efforts.