EPA’s Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT 2.0): A Case Study

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT 2.0) assists drinking water and wastewater utility owners and operators in identifying and assessing potential climate-related threats. CREAT provides adaptation options that enhance the utility’s resiliency toward climate change challenges. In the aftermath of the devastation inflicted by Superstorm Sandy on the New Jersey coastline, the South Monmouth Regional Sewerage Authority (SMRSA) recognized that it was necessary to incorporate mitigation and adaptation measures that address climate challenges into long-term planning goals. CREAT was used to develop a plan that would identify, understand and when implemented, reduce the risks associated with changing temperature and precipitation patterns, as well as rising sea level at one of their shoreline pump stations located in Belmar, NJ.This paper examines the process that SMRSA undertook to evaluate how CREAT identified threats such as storm surge, high intensity precipitation events and beach erosion may affect the Authority’s Belmar pump station and its associated force main. A baseline risk assessment was conducted by gauging the overall loss to each asset-threat pair across two future time periods (mid-and late-century for 2000 through 2100). In CREAT, losses are evaluated in terms of financial impacts, equipment damage, and environmental and public health consequences. When establishing baseline risk level for future time periods, it was assumed that SMRSA would not undertake any additional protective measures beyond current activities.With the aid of SMRSA personnel, proposed adaptive measures, or measures that would reduce risk for each asset-threat pair were identified. Proposed adaptive measures considered for the Belmar Pump Station include building a new pump station outside of the flood zone, purchasing a mobile enclosure that houses critical electrical and mechanical components, and installing flood doors on the existing station. A second risk assessment, called the Resilience Analysis, was then conducted with the assumption that one or more of the proposed adaptive measures were implemented for each asset-threat pair across the same two time periods. CREAT calculated risk reduction based on the change in risk levels from the Baseline and Resilience Analysis. Once the baseline and resilience analyses were complete, adaptation measures were organized into potential planning packages, then compared by overall risk reduction and cost. The results of the analysis allowed SMRSA to develop future risk assessment planning and capital budgeting for improvement projects.