Sonoma Water receives Federal Grant for Water System Disaster Preparedness
Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) and Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-02) announced that theFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded more than $2.9 million to theSonoma County Water Agency (Sonoma Water) for relocation of a portion of the water supply pipeline outside a hazard zone, providing for increased resiliency to future disasters.
“Ensuring our community is better prepared to withstand disasters is one of my highest priorities in Congress, which is why I am proud to announce this federal funding that will shore up our water transmission systems across Sonoma County,” said Thompson. “Our water infrastructure must be modernized and ready to continue serving the customers who rely on it, no matter the disaster scenario.”
“In aftermath of the catastrophic wildfires that rocked Northern California, we must do everything we can ensure our communities are as ready as possible for future disasters,” said Huffman. “I’m glad to announce that the Sonoma Counter Water Agency will receive this federal support to update their water infrastructure to be prepared in case of emergency. We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners to ensure that our districts have every resource needed during the long path to recovery and resiliency.”
“We are very grateful for this show of support from our federal partners. This project will increase the resiliency and reliability of our water transmission system,” said James Gore, Chair of the Sonoma Water Board of Directors. “This will help us maintain safe and reliable drinking water for our 600,000 customers in the event of an earthquake. Investing in our critical infrastructure is one of the most important services that government provides.”
To learn more about what Sonoma County is doing to prepare for Disaster Emergencies that result from Climate Change - here's a program underway that brings together people who are committed to helping our home survive…
Realizing a Potent Vision for Community-Scale Climate Action
What is the Climate Resilience Team? An internationally recognized public-private coalition accelerating local climate action across sectors and creating a transferable model for communities worldwide.
Climate Resilience Team Founders: Sonoma County Water Agency, Regional Climate Protection Authority, Pepperwood Preserve, USGS (U.S. Geological Survey), Earth Knowledge and the North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative with the support of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
Need: Climate preparedness and resilience are vital to ensuring the strongest economies and healthiest landscapes and communities. The World Economic Forum 2018 identified three of the top five global economic risks that were likely and most impactful:
1. Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change;
2. Extreme weather events; and
3. Natural disasters - NOAA identified $306 billion in costs related to 2017 extreme weather events alone, this includes fires and floods in Sonoma County and others across the state and nation.
Solution: Creating a model for Sonoma County through private-partner collaboration to develop and share the best decision tools for operations, planning and emergency response.
Vision: Building on a decade of leadership encompassed in the Sonoma model, local governments and businesses build capacity to accelerate climate risk management and mitigation across all sectors and the Sonoma County community at large.
Mission: To advance and codify the innovative Sonoma County model through public-private partnerships; to accelerate implementation in decision-making across sectors; and to promote evidence-based resilience practices applicable to local communities worldwide.
Opportunity: The Climate Resilience Team & Stakeholders can help the community, businesses and organizations successfully build stronger private-public partnerships, ground-breaking science and related information and use highly effective decision tools that provide unprecidented levels of resilience and preparedness, further defining Sonoma County as Climate Resilience Leader & Lighthouse for other communities around the world.
The Sonoma model provides all the ingredients needed for building community resilience:
· Targeted science
· Cross-sector, cross-government coordination
· Effective network building
· Community engagement
· Integration of mitigation and adaptation
· Innovative funding strategies
Our goal is to pioneer transferable strategies needed by local communities worldwide for key audiences such as city planners, local elected officials, agriculture, energy, telecommunications, emergency managers, health departments, water and transportation agencies.
