Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2GO, who recently celebrated 2,000 Days of Safety, has received the Annual Disaster Preparedness Award from the North Carolina American Water Works Association. The award “is presented to individuals and utilities in acknowledgment of outstanding achievement in advancing disaster preparedness initiatives thereby strengthening our preparedness and increasing our resolve to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, man-made disasters, and acts of aggression against our locality, county, state, and nation.”
           
Sine the Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority raw water line break in October of 2016, H2GO has made several steps to advance their preparedness for disasters that may strike the utility and affect customer services. Preparing a departmental emergency call list; initiating a water emergency operations plan; and drafting communication notices that can be easily modified for customers are just some of H2GO’s recent initiatives. Public Information Officer Tyler Wittkofsky has completed five FEMA certification classes and attended Water Emergency Communication seminars to better prepare the utility for disasters and to relay critical information to customers. In recent months, H2GO has retained WaterPIO, led by former CFPUA Chief Communication Officer Mike McGill, for emergency communications.            

“Being able to prepare for disasters and keep our customers well informed is something our board and staff take pride in. Unfortunately, disasters can strike at any time and often without any warning. Preparing in advance is something we find crucial, particularly in light of the October Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority raw water line break and revelations of emerging contaminates of emerging concern,” says Tyler Wittkofsky. H2GO will attend NC AWWA-WEA’s 97^th Annual Conference in Raleigh to accept the award in November.