October is National Community Planning Month, recognized and celebrated by the American Planning Association, FEMA, and their partners. For its part, FEMA notes community planning efforts that incorporate mitigation measures help prevent hazard events from becoming disasters and build resilience. It reminds its partners of a variety of resources to assist with making these investments.

WaterISAC encourages water and wastewater utilities to engage with their local communities, including government officials and other critical infrastructure operators, to engage in mitigation planning that identifies hazards, including those exacerbated by the effects of climate change. FEMA underscores that planning that results in long-term, risk-informed mitigation plans serves as the foundation for action, leading to innovative long-term solutions that build resilience. To assist all community partners with these important activities, FEMA recommends they take steps and access resources that include:

• Join FEMA for a "Planning Information Exchange Webinar, Foresight and Scenario Planning for Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation" on October 31, from 1:30 – 2:30 pm ET. This webinar will define the use cases for scenario planning for both hazard mitigation and climate adaptation and outline the challenges to its wider adoption among planners, floodplain managers, and allied practitioners. Register here.
• Check out the Mitigation Planning YouTube playlist for the following training videos:
  • Where and How We Build: Using Land Use and Building Codes to Increase Resilience
  • Starting your Mitigation Story with Scoping your Mitigation Plan
  • Addressing Future Climate, Population, and Land Use Changes Through Hazard Mitigation Planning
• Read your state, local, or tribal mitigation plan to learn what actions are being taken to reduce the impacts of hazards in your community. Visit FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Plan Status to see if your community has a plan and how to access it.
• Each community has its own unique population, ecosystems and risks. Planning can help drive innovative, equitable outcomes to build resilience for the whole community. 
• Read the FEMA.gov blog post on how equity, land use planning, and community capacity can create long-term, risk-informed mitigation plans that are the foundation for action.  
• Make the connection between land use planning and building codes to help reduce disaster risk. Check out the following resources for more information.
  • FEMA Building Codes Strategy
  • Guide to Expanding Mitigation: Making the Connection to Codes and Standards
• FEMA works with partners across a variety of different sectors to build long-term, risk-informed community mitigation plans. These plans lead to outcomes that protect the whole community. 
• Explore the latest mitigation success stories on FEMA.gov. See how others have reduced their disaster risk.
• Read the Guides to Expanding Mitigation, part of a series designed to highlight innovative and emerging partnerships for mitigation.
• Earlier this year, FEMA also released updates to the State and Local Mitigation Planning Policies. These policies support consistent evaluation and approval of hazard mitigation plans to promote planning and risk-informed decision making. Updates to the policies included better connections to new FEMA grant programs like Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities; alignment to national initiatives; and inclusion of key priorities such as climate adaptation, equity and resilience.  

Water and wastewater utilities are increasingly engaging in mitigation planning and implementing the types of resilience solutions FEMA encourages, some of which are documented on EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities website. There utilities can also access other resources to assist in their resilience journeys.