www.ca-nv-awwa.org 27
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Like many other small towns, Sunol doesn’t
have a weekly community paper, and the
closest daily regional newspaper doesn’t regularly
cover the ongoing WSIP construction
projects so the project blog serves as the primary
news source for residents and visitors.
Sunol Ohlone Regional Wilderness Park and
Sunol’s open and scenic roads attract large
groups of cyclists who have come to depend
upon the blog for up-to-date information
on construction activities and road closures.
More importantly, in case of a disaster
or emergency, this easily accessible blog will
serve as the primary source of detailed and
continuously updated information for a large
portion of the community and its visitors.
In addition to social media, utilities are
embracing other forms of technology, often
in partnership with community organizations.
Reverse 911 calling is now widely
available. Many water agencies also employ
text messaging or e-mail alerts sent to customers
via their smart phones. In the San
Francisco Bay Area, for example, dozens of
public utilities have partnered with local
or regional police and fire departments to
distribute timely text messages to residents
and businesses. While extremely effective, it
is important to remember that these alerts
only reach mobile users who opt-in, which
means your disaster communications plan
must include additional means of emergency
communication. Emergency text
alert platforms also vary from city to city.
For example, in Fremont, CA, a platform
called Nixle is used to distribute information,
while in San Mateo County it’s called
SMCAlert.
An April 2013 digital market survey reported
1.1 billion Facebook users and more than
200 million active Twitter accounts. With
these metrics in mind, coupled with the
rising sales in mobile devices, water utilities
cannot afford to go without social media
platforms during a crisis. These 140-character
Tweet updates from a utility mobile
phone will minimize dozens of telephone
calls that would otherwise flood your office
or media line. Utilizing social media will
free your staff to spend more time proactively
completing other important steps in
your crisis communication plan. S
/www.ca-nv-awwa.org
