AWWA and ASME-ITI to Release RAMCAP Method July 1
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers Innovative Technologies Institute, LLC (ASME-ITI) have developed the first risk and resilience management standard designed specifically for water utilities.
The J100 standard, created in response to 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters, will be released July 1. The Risk Analysis and Management for Critical Asset Protection (RAMCAP) method is designed to help water and wastewater utilities identify potential threats to U.S. water infrastructure and prepare for or mitigate damage.
“This partnership leverages several years of development across multiple industry sectors, resulting in the only multi-sector, quantitative risk/resilience method available,” said ASME-ITI President J. Reese Meisinger. “Tailoring this method into an American National Standard reflects the far-sighted leadership in infrastructure security and resilience shown by AWWA and the water sector.”
“The J100 standard provides the water sector with a critically needed methodology to support risk and resilience decision making, especially in an already resource constrained economy,” added AWWA Executive Director David LaFrance.
Approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in May, the manual addresses hazards from terrorist attacks to natural disasters with a new RAMCAP methodology. This methodology differs from others by guiding utilities in calculating:
- the probability of a malevolent attack using an innovative approach based on actual incidents,
- the probability of a specific natural hazard occurring at a facility,
- asset and utility resilience capacity.
An expert committee representing water utilities, risk assessment practitioners and government agencies spent the last 18 months ensuring that the standard considered specific water sector needs.
AWWA and ASME-ITI also have partnered in developing a training program for the J100 standard. This training will provide utilities and practitioners with a functional understanding of the all-hazards RAMCAP method and how it applies to the water sector. The training will be launched in late July through AWWA’s E-Learning platform.
A more detailed summary of J100 is shared in the Security & Preparedness column of the June issue of Journal AWWA and online at StandardJ100.