AWIA improves drinking water and water quality, deepens infrastructure investments, enhances public health and quality of life. The law provides for water infrastructure improvements in areas of flood control, waterways, water resources development, financial and technical assistance, and PWSs. AWIA Section 2013, specifically, promotes and enhances emergency preparedness and response activities by requiring community water systems serving over 3,300 people to conduct a risk and resilience assessment and develop or update an emergency response plan (ERP) and requires that community water systems serving over 3,300 people update these documents, as necessary but at least every five years.

An ERP should include the following:

• Strategies and resources to improve the resilience of the system, including the physical security and cybersecurity of the system
• Plans and procedures that can be implemented, and identification of equipment that can be utilized, in the event of a hazard that threatens the system
• Mitigation actions
• Strategies to detect intentional acts or natural hazards that threaten the security or resilience of the system
  

AWIA Section 2013 encourages water utilities and EMAs to coordinate during ERP development to help prevent or lessen community-wide impacts as a result of drinking water service disruptions. ERPs should also be developed at community water systems that serve less than 3,300 people and at wastewater systems in order to increase resilience to potential interruptions of sewage treatment and stormwater runoff sanitation services.