BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Emergency Services Coordination.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors and the Gilroy and Morgan Hill City Councils consider directing their respective staff to commit to ongoing and strengthened coordination and partnership on emergency activities and service.
Body
SUMMARY:
The six-person Emergency Services staff within the Emergency Services and Security Unit is responsible for the District's emergency operations. This includes leading the development of plans, conducting emergency management trainings and exercises, ensuring the availability of resources, and collaborating with other agencies.
The unit also has responsibility for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). In addition to the EOC, the District also has two Department Operations Centers (DOCs) that are utilized to directly support field operations in Watershed and Water Utility.
The DOCs are managed within the Watershed and Water Utility Divisions of the District and are activated independently or in coordination with the EOC, depending upon the nature of the emergency. When a DOC is activated, staff in the DOC often interact and collaborate with employees from other entities such as District retailers or County agencies such as HazMat/Fire and the Cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
Some emergencies that the District could respond to include floods, levee or facility issues, water contamination, water supply disruption, pipeline damage, underground storage subsidence, dam failure and earthquake.
One of the lessons of the 2017 floods was the importance of collaborating with other agencies. Over the past year, through collaboration, open communication, and development of close professional ties, the District and the City of San Jose have developed a robust Emergency Action Plan (EAP) to respond to future incidents.
EAPs are scenario-specific and are based on streams, dams and affec...
Click here for full text