Summary: April is Emergency Communications Month. This annual tradition, started by CISA, honors the nation’s emergency responders and communicators. It also emphasizes the importance of emergency communications and the need to work together in building resilient critical infrastructure by highlighting free government resources and programs.

Analyst Note: During emergencies, maintaining open lines of communication is challenging, yet a critical requirement for response efforts. CISA encourages critical infrastructure organizations to significantly bolster communications resilience and emergency preparedness by enrolling in its free priority telecommunications services. These three resources are the Wireless Priority Service (WPS), the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), and the Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP). GETS and WPS are offered at no charge, require no special equipment, and can work separately or together to achieve a call completion rate greater than 90%, even during emergencies. 

WaterISAC encourages its members to review CISA’s other emergency communication resources, guidance, and technical assistance programs. For example, one important resource is the “Emergency Communications and Extreme Weather Factsheet,” that can help water and wastewater utilites enhance their communication resilience and prepare for potential outages during extreme weather events.

Original Source: https://www.cisa.gov/emergency-communications-month  

Mitigation Recommendations:

• EPA – Water Utility Communication During Emergency Response
• CISA – Water Fact Sheet for Priority Telecommunications Services (PTS)
• CISA – Emergency Communications and Extreme Weather Factsheet
• CISA – PACE Plan

Related WaterISAC PIRs: 16 & 17