AWWA developed the first voluntary consensus standard encompassing an all-hazards risk and resilience management process for use specifically by water and wastewater utilities. The standard received final clearance from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in May 2010 and was effective July 1, 2010.

There are three key upgrades in the RAMCAP methodology that differentiate it from earlier methodologies that may have been applied in the water sector:

1. RAMCAP provides guidance for calculating the Probability of Attack in a more granular fashion in that it is not assumed to be 100% or 1. 

2. RAMCAP provides guidance for calculating the probability of a specific natural hazard occurring at a given utility (i.e., earthquake, tornado, and hurricane). 

3. RAMCAP provides guidance for calculating asset and utility resilience. 

Tornado Frequency Resource
The new standard includes several mandatory and nonmandatory appendixes, including Nonmandatory Appendix G: Integrated Analysis of Natural Hazards, which addresses risks from hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.

The analysis of tornadoes references a resource, based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that tabulates the frequency of tornadoes occurring each year across the United States for each county that has experienced at least one tornado. Download Tornado Frequency table.

This standard has been reassigned under the American National Standards Institute from a joint standard to a standard solely under AWWA’s responsibility for maintenance and revision.

DHS-approved
Standard J100 has been awarded SAFETY Act designation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002 (SAFETY Act) was enacted by Congress in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as an incentive for the creation and deployment of technologies and services with anti-terrorism capabilities.

Under the SAFETY Act, both the entity that creates the anti-terrorism security measure and the entity that deploys the anti-terrorism measure are eligible for liability protections. Utilities in the drinking water and wastewater sector have the assurance of knowing that Standard J100 has been vetted by DHS and determined to be effective. DHS has concluded that the proper utilization of this standard will assist in effectively mitigating acts of terrorism from occurring at water facilities.

NOTE: Standard J100 is not included in the AWWA Standards Set, nor is it automatically sent to AWWA Standards subscribers.