Mekorot’s experience in
preparing for emergency
situations
Presented by:
Mr. Sion Cohen
V.P. for Planning & Infrastructure
Development
May 2006
Our July 2001 “Wakeup Call”
Four tons of Ammonia accidentally
flowed into the National Water Carrier
The decision process was flawed and
the contamination reached the
consumers
The Ministry of Health Water issued a
no-use of water
Panic through out the central district
The Outcome
We had to do something,
fast and skip to a higher
level that enabled a more
effective response
Mekorot – Israel’s National Water Company
Sources
Cloud
Seeding
Water Resources Management
Reuse water
Desalination
Wells
Agriculture, Municipal Sector, Industry and
Neighbors ( Jordanians and Palestinians)
Surface
Water
Sewage Water
Drinking Water
Control Systems
Ground
Water
Water Quality
Brackish Water
Water Security
Technological
Improvements
Sea Water
Quality
Mekorot – Israel’s National Water Company
Total Assets- 3b US$
AAA rating
600 m US$ revenue
200 m US$ development
2,000 employees
Mekorot’s Activities
Reuse
Desalination
Water Quality
Water Resources
Wells
Control Systems
Water Security
R&D
R&D
The National Water Supply
Annual Water Consumption
in million m3 (m.c.m.)
100%
147
80%
40
664
477
60%
40%
661
Others
Mekorot
81
1399
657
20%
0%
Total
Residential
Industry
Agriculture
Total
Others
147
40
477
664
Mekorot
661
81
657
1399
808
121
Based on 2005 figures
1134
2,063
Main Water Sources
A limited supply of water
situated with 4 major
sources:
The See of Galilee
The mountain aquifer
The coastal aquifer
Desalination
Mekorot – Domestic Consumption
700
650
550
500
450
increasing consumption of
water.
400
350
20
05
20
03
20
01
19
99
19
97
19
95
19
93
19
91
300
19
89
million m3
600
Biosensors for Water Security
Dafnia
and small
fish
Elephant Fish
The Need
Managing and operating
correctly during emergency
situations is essential to
minimize effects
Organizational Preparedness
Guidelines and Procedures
Improving crisis management
Training
Exercises
Roadmap for Upgrading Emergency and Security
Preparedness
Work plan for
improvement
Lessons learnt
Surprise exercises
Extensive debriefing
Training and workshops
at all levels
Exercises at all levels
Preparing
procedures
Coordinating the procedures
Identifying gaps
Important Points for Crisis Management
Implement simple and workable
procedures
Use a uniform language within the
organization and other agencies
Creating strong cooperation and
coordination with all parties
Important Points for Crisis Management – cont…
Assimilate the procedures.
Preparing a decision support system
that determines whether the
information gathered commands an
emergency situation and when to shift
from the routine to emergency mode.
Deploy situation rooms for crisis
control
Important Points for Crisis Management
– cont…
Provide uniform modes of
communication for accurate reporting
Training management on how to
arrive at an accurate and reliable
situation assessment – “connecting
the dots”
Extensive exercises
Situation Rooms
Professional Teamwork
Eng. Team
Info. center
Video Conference
Authorities reps.
Situation Rooms
Deployment
Southern District
Head
Northern District
Legend
Office
unit
district
Central District
Jordan District
Flow Chart for Emergency Situations
Determining
the severity
of the event
Complementary
data collection
Threshold
trigger
Initial data
assessment
Operational
orders - who,
when and
where
Back to
routine
Managerial Team
Reporting
Arriving at
situation
assessment
Verification that
operational orders
mitigated the
problem
Grading the Event
All events are graded based on the apparent
severity.
The severity grade dictates who manages the
event, who to report to, what feedback is
required and the resources to be allocated
etc.
Severity Grade
This is based on a standard table for grading
the event.
The grade takes into account:
the number of anticipated people effected,
the level of contamination,
complaints of illness
media involvement
professional assessment of situation
previous historical events at same location
other factors
Training
All procedures and guidelines must be
learnt by the employees, by way of
theoretical and “on-site” training.
Periodic training includes “table top” and
field exercises at all levels
Points for preparing exercises
Pre-determine the goals and lessons to be learnt.
Investigate the various agencies that will
participate in water emergency events,
Prepare several complete scenarios for each
exercise.
Assign a silent controller to every participant.
Provide time for a detailed and extended debriefing
period.
Preparing a detailed work plan for improvement
Added Value
Fifty percent of the goal is achieved by pre-exercise
preparation.
A reduction in the number of water quality and water
security events has been shown.
Discovering weak points in the system without being
in real crisis.
Proper response in times of crisis at all levels
Uniform language between the participants and
other agencies
Summary and Recommendations
Mekorot has over the past five years upgraded its
preparedness several levels
This is been by investing in monitoring systems,
DSS models, situation rooms, uniform procedures
and guidelines, training and exercises.
Collaboration with other agencies and consumers
has risen tremendously.
Summary and Recommendations – cont…
This methodology actually works in
preparing a large water company.
It is a long process and must be directed
with full commitment by top management.
With enough patience it is possible to
achieve excellent results.
Thank you