FEMA’s Community Lifelines Construct

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) implemented a new ‘Water Systems’ Community Lifeline on August 1, 2023.

EPA has worked closely with FEMA to better identify and represent the water sector (drinking water and wastewater systems) in existing emergency response procedures, protocols and frameworks. EPA’s Water Sector Partners, represented by the Water Sector Coordinating Council and Government Coordinating Council, have also advocated a change of this kind via Congressional testimony, Incident After Action Reports, and other means.

FEMA developed the community lifelines construct to increase effectiveness in disaster operations and better position the Agency to respond to catastrophic incidents. This construct allows emergency managers to characterize the incident and identify the root causes of priority issue areas and distinguish the highest priorities and most complex issues from other incident information.

The new Community Lifelines Toolkit 2.1 includes these key changes:

1. Adds an eighth lifeline focused on “Water Systems”
2. Renames the “Food, Water, Shelter” lifeline to “Food, Hydration, Shelter”

The Water Systems Lifeline is comprised of two Components with several Subcomponents, as listed below. Per FEMA, subcomponents “provide a granular level of enabling functions for the delivery of services to a community. Lifelines and components are fixed, but the subcomponents may be adjusted as necessary.”

1. Component 1: Potable Water Infrastructure
   1. Subcomponent 1: Intake
   2. Subcomponent 2: Treatment
   3. Subcomponent 3: Storage
   4. Subcomponent 4: Distribution
2. Component 2: Wastewater Management
   1. Subcomponent 1: Collection
   2. Subcomponent 2: Storage
   3. Subcomponent 3: Treatment
   4. Subcomponent 4: Discharge

For more information, see FEMA’s Community Lifelines public website.