EPA recently released a short video touting the benefits of using its Water Health and Economic Analysis Tool (WHEAT) to generate a consequence analysis for certain potential adverse event scenarios. The tool was originally released in 2010, and has since had two updates. EPA created the tool to assist water sector utilities in quantifying public health, economic and downstream consequences of three different potential adverse event scenarios: the loss of one or more assets, the release of a hazardous gas and an intentional drinking water contamination. WHEAT output data can be used to inform a utility risk assessment, and results can be imported into EPA’s Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool v.6.0 (VSAT).
Additional information about the tool, including a fact sheet, a quick reference guide and a link to download it is available online.