Disaster Preparedness

Trevor Clements, Tetra Tech’s Mid Atlantic regional manager for Integrated Water Management, spoke to the North Carolina State Water Infrastructure Authority, the independent body with primary responsibility for awarding both federal and state funding, on the topic of One Water and its relationship to infrastructure funding on December 13, 2017. In this post, he shares his perspective on how communities can make the best use of limited water infrastructure funding. All opinions expressed in this post are the author’s own.

Rebuilding Together, the leading home and community revitalization national non-profit organization, today announced a $1.6 million donation from Albertsons Companies Foundation to support long-term recovery efforts for underserved residents affected by California wildfires and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

CITGO Petroleum Corporation is donating up to $6 Million to Rebuilding Together Houston with an immediate goal of repairing up to 300 homes in Houston.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, it is time to re-think our approach to disaster response and recovery. Since 1980, average annual disaster costs have doubled every decade. This is financially unsustainable.

Bob Daylor is a civil engineer and senior consultant for land development and land tenure issues at Tetra Tech. He has 50 years’ experience in facility planning, design, and construction and specializes in master planning and permitting projects at the water’s edge and in or near ecologically-sensitive landscapes. He holds professional registrations in civil engineering and land surveying and has held several elected and appointed city and regional planning positions.

Survey responses from the 2017 Strategic Directions: Natural Gas Industry Report suggest that a root cause of inadequate preparedness for risks may be insufficient funding for physical and cybersecurity initiatives. In fact, results reveal that approximately 65 percent of respondents either don’t know how much money is being earmarked or are allocating less than $1 million annually to fund security programs.

Outdoor enthusiasts hold few people in higher regard than the brave men and women who provide medical aid on the slopes – and sometimes these professionals are assisted by another kind of hero, who leads the way and finds the rescue. Thanks to nonprofit Wasatch Backcountry Rescue’s (WBR) International Dog School, dogs around the country receive the intense training required of avalanche rescue dogs.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week celebrated the completion of the first phase of the McCook Reservoir project, a key component of MWRD’s plan to reduce flood damage and sewer overflow pollution in the Chicago area.

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey (a Category 4 storm) made landfall on the southern Texas coast as one of the most damaging storms to hit one of the United States’ largest cities. What followed was catastrophic flooding that affected millions of Gulf Coast residents, businesses and the overall energy market.

As rapidly growing cities in developing countries become key frontiers of international development, urban areas require dynamic, local solutions to build resilience and sustain inclusive economic growth.