Hurricane Preparedness

Hurricane Preparedness for Public Water Systems

When the area comes under the effects of a hurricane, or other severe weather situations where there is a power loss and/or flooding, there are extra precautions that public water systems need to take to protect public health. With this in mind, the Office of Drinking Water Quality recommends that public water systems consider the follow:

• Review the following checklists from the USEPA’s Water Security Division:

• Suggested Pre-Hurricane Activities for Water and Wastewater Utilities
• Suggested Post-Hurricane Activities for Water and Wastewater Utilities

• Review your current system’s Emergency Response Plan and ensure that emergency equipment is operational.
• Consider a contingency plan for operations staff in the event that expected staff are unable to report to work.

In the event of a hurricane or any emergency, water systems should be operating in accordance with their emergency response plans, if applicable. Emergency power should be utilized to the extent necessary and available to maintain pressure within the distribution system. Systems which have been flooded or otherwise had bacterial quality compromised must be disinfecting their water system and maintaining chlorine residuals throughout the water system. Where such flooding, loss of pressure, or other damage has occurred resulting in potential bacterial compromise, the system should issue a boil water notice until further testing can be conducted and the situation normalizes. If necessary, a boil water notice must be announced as soon as possible, and realize that it may be necessary to issue a boil water notice before the Health Department can be reached.  A public notification template can be downloaded for your use. 

Water supply must continue to be available to the extent possible for fire fighting and sanitary purposes. A situation that makes the water system inoperable, such as damage, loss of power, loss of water and/or potential contamination of the water supply must also be reported to the Department of Health.

In the event that a hurricane is planned to impact the area, we may require the larger community water systems to report their status to the Office of Drinking Water Quality. Our office will contact those individual systems before the impact of the storm.

For your information, the following emergency call-in procedure to the Department of Health Office of Drinking Water Quality is as follows:

Primary Number: Office: (401) 222-6867, 
Fax: (401) 222-6953
Alternate Number: 24-Hour Emergency Number: 
(401) 272-5952
Contingency Numbers: Office Staff Cellular Numbers:

Donna Pytel: (401) 639-6454
Romeo Mendes: (401) 639-6452
Charlotte Redner: (401) 639-8164

Emergency Number: As a last resort. If an emergency arises and you cannot reach anyone by any of the above methods, then local police can be used to contact the HEALTH liaison at the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency to relay the information.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call the:

Rhode Island Department of Health
Office of Drinking Water Quality
Office number: 222-6867 
(8:30am-4:30pm, Monday-Friday)
24-Hour Emergency Number: 272-5952