Batten Down the Hatches—Assessing the Status of Emergency Preparedness Planning in the German Water Supply Sector with Statistical and Expert-Based Weighting

Lisa Bross, Ina Wienand and Steffen Krause
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Lisa Bross: Research Center RISK, Bundeswehr University Munich, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany
Ina Wienand: Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, Provinzialstrasse 93, 53127 Bonn, Germany
Steffen Krause: Research Center RISK, Bundeswehr University Munich, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-23

Abstract: Emergency preparedness planning in the water supply sector includes preventive measures to minimize risks as well as aspects of crisis management. Various scenarios such as floods, power failures or even a pandemic should be considered. This article presents a newly developed composite indicator system to assess the status of emergency preparedness planning in the German water supply. Two weighting methods of the indicators are compared: the indicator system was applied to a case study and a Germany-representative data set. The results show that there is a need for action in emergency preparedness planning in the German water supply. This is in particular due to a lack of risk analyses and insufficient crisis management. Numerous water supply companies and municipalities are already well-prepared, however, there is a need for action at several levels, especially in the area of risk analysis and evaluation of measures. In Germany, responsibility for this lies primarily with the municipalities.

Keywords: crisis; critical infrastructure; disaster; drinking water; risk management; risk reduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7177-:d:407882

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