Disaster Sanitation When There’s No Place to Go Laura Hall, RDPO - [email protected] Laura Hall, Communications Coordinator, Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization, which is housed in the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management Where will we go? We’re here today to talk about where people are going to poop after a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake ● Nearly 700 mile fault off the coast ● Magnitude 8.0-9.0 earthquakes ● Several minutes of shaking ● Damage to water and sewer lines Here’s a quick primer for those of you who don’t already know. The Cascadia “megathrust” fault stretches from Northern California to Vancouver, British Columbia. ● It produces magnitude 8-9.0 earthquakes that last 2-9 minutes. ● On average, this fault ruptures every 250 years. The last rupture was 319 years ago, in the year 1700, back before all this lovely modern infrastructure at that we’ve all grown so fond of. ● When Cascadia ruptures next, we’ll see significant destruction throughout the region, including catastrophic and unprecedented impacts to our water and wastewater systems. The Pacific Northwest will face a major sanitation crisis. ● The 2013 Oregon Resilience Plan estimates it will take 6 months - 1 year for wastewater systems to become 80-90% operational in the Willamette Valley (3 years to return to current operational state). Hepatitis A Leptospirosis E-coli Methaemoglobinaemia Cholera Poliomyelitis Cryptosporidiosis Schistomsomiasis Encephalitis Campylobacteriosis Gastroenteritis Shigellosis Giardiasis Paratyphoid Fever Dysentery Typhoid Fever Salmonellosis Norovirus Yersiniosis (Diarrhea) As you well know, the ability to treat water and wastewater is a fundamental part of the modern public health system. Without it, a lot of nasty diseases spread quickly and lethally. Every day, throughout the world, there is unfortunate evidence of this. But here’s where we lack evidence - what happens to a place like this, the Pacific Northwest, when a major earthquake hits. There are other industrialized nations in geologically active areas, such as Japan and Mexico, but they have more frequent earthquakes and have a head start in hardening their systems. What happens when an earthquake hits a region full of people who are used to flushing a toilet and a vast underground infrastructure that was built before the region’s risk of major earthquakes was well known. Christchurch, New Zealand (2011) The best comparison we can make is Christchurch, New Zealand, which has similar geology, building inventory, and age of infrastructure. ● In September 2010, Christchurch experienced a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that lasted 40 seconds. A few months later, in February 2011, another earthquake hit. ● The second quake was a magnitude 6.3 and lasted only 10 seconds, but it produced much more extensive damage than the first quake due to: ● Liquefaction - when water-saturated soils soften and lose strength. ● Lateral spreading - when surface-level soils permanently move laterally. ● As you can imagine, underground pipes don’t like this type of movement. ● 100% of the Christchurch sewer system was affected either by liquefaction, breakage of pipes, damage to treatment ponds, or power outage. There was discharge of untreated sewage into waterways, and most of their water system was severely damaged. ● Many were without working toilets for weeks. Some parts of the system didn’t come back online for well over a year. Thousands of portable toilets and chemical toilets were brought in from around the globe. They nearly tapped the world’s supply. ● They averted a major public health crisis because of the relatively small scale of the disaster, but also because they got creative and found ways to protect public health. ● But the population of Christchurch is only about 400,000, and the roads and waterways outside the earthquake zone were perfectly usable. When Cascadia hits, millions of people will be impacted, roads and bridges will be impassable, and recovery will be a much longer, slower process, hampered by many logistical challenges. Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization Portland Metropolitan Region (Clackamas, Clark, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington counties) Collaborating to increase the region’s resilience to disasters The Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization is a partnership of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private-sector stakeholders in the Portland Metropolitan Region, which includes Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, and Washington counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington. ● These stakeholders are collaborating to increase the region’s resilience to disasters, as the name implies. ● Partner agencies include counties, cities, Metro regional government, Port of Portland, TriMet, utility companies, hospitals, public works department, the Red Cross, Intel… you get the picture. Disaster Sanitation Task Force Representatives from: • Public Health • Planning & Environmental Multi-Jurisdictional Sustainability • Public Works Multi-Disciplinary • Oregon Department of • Solid Waste & Recycling Environmental Quality • Emergency Management ...with input from PHLUSH In 2016, the RDPO formed a multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary Task Force to address the issue of sanitation in the Portland Metro Region following a catastrophic, pipe-breaking earthquake (or other event that disables sewer systems, blocks roads, limits fuel, etc.). ● The goal was to provide the public with recommendations for handling human waste in the absence of a functional wastewater system. ○ Not meant to address hand hygiene or industrial or other waste ○ Not meant to make infrastructure or mitigation recommendations ○ It was just - what should people do with their poo As the project progressed, a new goal emerged: ● We need to provide jurisdictions with information so they can start disaster sanitation planning now (before the disaster). We’re creating that framework now, and we’ll talk about that a bit today. Assumptions ● Systems partially or fully out of service for many months ● Simple, cheap, effective, hyper-local, and limit exposure ● No single method ● Portable toilets aren’t an option ● Further messaging within 30 days The task force started with several assumptions. ● Sewage collection and treatment systems will be partially or fully out of service for many months following a large earthquake. ● Methods for handling poo must be simple, cheap, and hyper local. And they must effectively protect public health by limiting exposure to the waste. ● No single sanitation method is right for every situation – there must be several options to handle a variety of situations. ● While portable toilets work well in small events, the number required for this scenario far outreaches the initial availability. Additionally, they require frequent servicing (cleaning and emptying), which would be very challenging. ● Within 30 days of the initial disaster, local governments should be in a position to provide further messaging and instructions regarding human waste. Sue Mohnkern Retired Public Health Program Supervisor Washington County Scott Johnson Emergency Manager Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency Erin O’Connell Environmental Services Specialist Columbia County Wastewater Today we’re going to hear from three extraordinary members of the Disaster Sanitation Task Force. We’ve all been given very charming nicknames. ● Sue Mohnkern, Movement Mentor ○ Retired Public Health Program Supervisor, Washington County ● Scott Johnson, Fecal Factfinder ○ Emergency Manager, Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency ● Erin O’Connell, Poop Processing Professional ○ Environmental Services Specialist, Columbia County ● Laura Hall, Dookey Diva and Poop Project Coordinator ○ Communications Coordinator, RDPO Sue Mohnkern Developing recommendations Scott Johnson Creating public messaging campaign Erin O’Connell Developing a cleanup plan No Best Practices Available ● Reviewed literature for guidance and previous works ○ No clear guidance that matched the scenario at hand ○ Found plenty addressing developing nations and US hurricane/flood scenarios Clackamas County Disaster Nancy Bush City of Clatskanie Ray DiPasquale Management City of Portland, Bureau of Planning Clackamas County Public Health Julie Hamilton Pete Chism-Winfield & Sustainability Clackamas and Columbia County Portland Bureau of Environmental Sarah Present Steve Behrndt Health Officer Services Clark County (drinking water Tigard Public Works and Emergency protection, on-site wastewater Chuck Harman Theresa Reynolds Management protection) Columbia County (on-site water Tigard Public Works and Emergency Erin O’Connell Mike Lueck management) Management Columbia County Public Health Anne Parrott Metro Daniel Nibouar Multnomah County Emergency Stevie Bullock Metro Roy Brower Management Multnomah County Emergency Alice Busch Metro Bruce Philbrick Management Washington County Emergency Multnomah County Public Health Uei Lei Ken Schlegel Management Multnomah County (Septic/COP), Clark Regional Emergency Services City of Portland, Bureau of Erin Mick Scott Johnson Agency Developmental Services Washington County Emergency Scott Porter Oregon DEQ Heather Kuoppamaki Management Washington County Emergency Chris Walsh Oregon Refuse and Recycling Assn. Dave White Management Washington County Public Health Sue Mohnkern RDPO Emma Stocker Washington County Solid Waste and Thomas Egleston RDPO Laura Hanson Recycling ● Established task force of willing partners ○ 27 participants from 21 agencies