Tools for Resilience Planning
On this page:
EPA staff have developed tool(s) to help communities anticipate, plan for, and prepare for resilience to natural disasters and environmental stressors.
- The most relevant tools based on your search are provided below.
- To sort tool "Names" alphabetically, click on the arrow icon next to "Name."
- To sort by "Keyword" click on the arrow icon next to "Area of Interest/Keyword."
- Use the Search Bar to search explore the Tools section more generally.
Air Quality
| Name | Brief Description | Available Training | Contact EPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Growth Fixes for Climate Adaptation and Resilience | This guide covers a wide range of potential areas of interest including adaptation planning, sea-level rise, natural disasters and other environmental stressors (e.g., precipitation, flooding, heat events), and wildfires. Specific land use and building code and policy changes that can help communities prepare for natural disasters and other environmental stressors while bringing other economic, environmental, health, and societal benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth@epa.gov) | N/A |
| RAINE, Resilience and Adaptation In New England | RAINE is a database that catalogs activities in more than 100 New England jurisdictions addressing impacts from natural disasters and other environmental stressors. The database provides information at the state, local, or regional level. It includes information such as web links, reports, plans, tools, specific practices, funding sources, and partnerships. | R1_Raine@epa.gov (R1_Raine @epa.gov) | N/A | |
| GCX, Global Change Explorer | GCX is a collection of EPA research products (tools, data, and approaches) relevant to global change impact assessments and response planning for those impacts. | User Manual and data sets | Britta Bierwagen (Bierwagen.Britta @epa.gov) Phil Morefield (Morefield.Philip @epa.gov) | Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines |
| Enhancing Sustainable Communities With Green Infrastructure Guide | The Green Infrastructure Guide helps communities plan and design green infrastructure for multiple environmental, health, social, and economic benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | Green Infrastructure for Climate Resiliency |
Water Management
Tools for Water Related Resilience Planning
Waste Management & Emergency Response
| Name | Brief Description | Available Training | Contact EPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disaster Debris Recovery Tool | A mapping tool of facilities for disaster response, recovery and planning experts to advance the safe recovery, recycling and disposal of disaster debris. | View the slides and listen to a recording about the national tool held on June 18, 2020. | Kaps.Melissa@epa.gov | |
| Storm Surge Inundation and Hurricane Strike Frequency Map | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this mapping tool illustrates current advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), hurricane strike history, and potential worst-case coastal storm surge or inundation scenarios derived from Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) models by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These maps highlight the specific flooding hazards for coastal utilities, combined with 100 and 500 year flood plains from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to support systems in their assessments of coastal flooding risk during hurricane season. | CRWU Training Center | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | |
| RAINE, Resilience and Adaptation In New England | RAINE is a database that catalogs activities in more than 100 New England jurisdictions addressing impacts from natural disasters and other environmental stressors. The database provides information at the state, local, or regional level. It includes information such as web links, reports, plans, tools, specific practices, funding sources, and partnerships. | R1_Raine@epa.gov (R1_Raine @epa.gov) | N/A | |
| Climate Scenarios Projection Map | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this mapping tool provides easy to access scenarios of projected changes from EPA's Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool for annual total precipitation, annual average temperature, precipitation intensity for the 100-year storm, number of days per year with temperatures above 100 F, and sea-level rise for coastal locations. | CRWU Training Center | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | |
| ICLUS, Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios | The ICLUS project is developing scenarios broadly consistent with global-scale, peer-reviewed storylines of population growth and economic development, which are used by modelers to develop future projections. | User Manual and data sets | Britta Bierwagen (Bierwagen.Britta @epa.gov) Phil Morefield (Morefield.Philip @epa.gov) | Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines |
| Enhancing Sustainable Communities With Green Infrastructure Guide | The Green Infrastructure Guide helps communities plan and design green infrastructure for multiple environmental, health, social, and economic benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | Green Infrastructure for Climate Resiliency |
No Currently Identified Tools
Please view the Waste Section of the Resources Page for appropriate documents and guidebooks on climate adaptation for waste and emergency response.
Public Health
| Name | Brief Description | Available Training | Contact EPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smart Growth Fixes for Climate Adaptation and Resilience | This guide covers a wide-range of potential areas of interest including adaptation planning, sea-level rise, natural disasters and other environmental stressors (e.g., precipitation, flooding, heat events), and wildfires. Specific land use and building code and policy changes that can help communities prepare for natural disasters and other environmental stressors while bringing other economic, environmental, health, and societal benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | N/A |
| RAINE, Resilience and Adaptation In New England | RAINE is a database that catalogs activities in more than 100 New England jurisdictions addressing impacts from natural disasters and other environmental stressors. The database provides information at the state, local, or regional level. It includes information such as web links, reports, plans, tools, specific practices, funding sources, and partnerships. | R1_Raine@epa.gov (R1_Raine @epa.gov) | N/A | |
| Climate Scenarios Projection Map | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this mapping tool provides easy to access scenarios of projected changes from EPA's Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool for annual total precipitation, annual average temperature, precipitation intensity for the 100-year storm, number of days per year with temperatures above 100 F, and sea-level rise for coastal locations. | CRWU Training Center | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | |
| ICLUS, Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios | The ICLUS project is developing scenarios broadly consistent with global-scale, peer-reviewed storylines of population growth and economic development, which are used by modelers to develop future projections. | User Manual and data sets | Britta Bierwagen (Bierwagen.Britta @epa.gov) Phil Morefield (Morefield.Philip @epa.gov) | Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines |
| Enhancing Sustainable Communities With Green Infrastructure Guide | The Green Infrastructure Guide helps communities plan and design green infrastructure for multiple environmental, health, social, and economic benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) |
No Other Currently Identified Tools
Please view the Public Health Section of the Resources Page for appropriate documents and guidebooks on public health climate adaptation.
Resilience Planning
| Name | Brief Description | Available Training | Contact EPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resilient Strategies Guide | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this online guide assists water utilities with planning priorities, resilience building, and customized information based on the experiences of other utilities and best available climate science. | CRWU Training Center | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | CRWU Case Study and Information Exchange Map |
| RAINE, Resilience and Adaptation In New England | RAINE is a database that catalogs activities in more than 100 New England jurisdictions addressing impacts from natural disasters and other environmental stressors. The database provides information at the state, local, or regional level. It includes information such as web links, reports, plans, tools, specific practices, funding sources, and partnerships. | R1_Raine@epa.gov (R1_Raine @epa.gov) | N/A | |
| Planning Framework for a Climate-Resilient Economy | A framework and process to help communities assess their economic vulnerability to natural disasters and other environmental stressors and improve their economic resilience. It is designed to be flexible so communities with varying levels of analytical expertise, time, and funds can use it. Some communities can use it to get a "big picture" assessment of their vulnerabilities. Others could use more sophisticated tools such as GIS and other computer-based models and a team of experts to map out specific economic impacts or threats and business opportunities. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | N/A |
| Regional Resilience Toolkit: 5 Steps to Build Large-Scale Resilience to Natural Disasters | Toolkit that helps regions plan for disasters, such as those caused by more frequent and intense storms, by working across multiple jurisdictions and with nongovernmental partners. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | N/A |
| Climate Scenarios Projection Map | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this mapping tool provides easy to access scenarios of projected changes from EPA's Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool for annual total precipitation, annual average temperature, precipitation intensity for the 100-year storm, number of days per year with temperatures above 100 F, and sea-level rise for coastal locations. | CRWU Training Center | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | |
| Smart Growth Fixes for Climate Adaptation and Resilience | This guide covers a wide-range of potential areas of interest including adaptation planning, sea-level rise, natural disasters and other environmental stressors (e.g., precipitation, flooding, heat events), and wildfires. Specific land use and building code and policy changes that can help communities prepare for natural disasters and other environmental stressors while bringing other economic, environmental, health, and societal benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | N/A |
| Storm Surge Inundation and Hurricane Strike Frequency Map | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this mapping tool illustrates current advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), hurricane strike history, and potential worst-case coastal storm surge or inundation scenarios derived from Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) models by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These maps highlight the specific flooding hazards for coastal utilities, combined with 100 and 500 year flood plains from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to support systems in their assessments of coastal flooding risk during hurricane season. | CRWU Training Center | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | |
| Stormwater Calculator with Climate Assessment Tool | Desktop application that estimates the annual amount of rainwater and frequency of runoff from a specific site anywhere in the United States. The calculator includes future climate vulnerability scenarios. |
| SWC@epa.gov (SWC @epa.gov) | Mount Rainier Green Infrastructure Master Plan (PDF)(85 pp, 10.8 MB) |
| Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) | Under EPA’s Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative, this tool assists drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities in assessing climate-related risks to utility assets and operations and considering adaptation options to build resilience. | CRWUhelp@epa.gov (CRWUhelp@epa.gov) | CRWU Case Study and Information Exchange Map | |
| Climate Ready Estuaries (CRE) Workbook for Developing Risk-Based Adaptation Plans. | The workbook provides guidance for conducting risk-based vulnerability assessments and developing adaptation action plans. | CREhelp@epa.gov (CREhelp @epa.gov) | Climate Change Risk Management: The San Juan Bay Estuary | |
| GCX, Global Change Explorer | GCX is a collection of EPA research products (tools, data, and approaches) relevant to global change impact assessments and response planning for those impacts. | User Manual and data sets | Britta Bierwagen (Bierwagen.Britta @epa.gov) Phil Morefield (Morefield.Philip @epa.gov) | Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines |
| BASINS, Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources | BASINS is a multipurpose environmental analysis system designed to help regional, state, and local agencies perform watershed- and water quality-based studies. | basins @epa.gov | BASINS Case Study | |
| Climate Change Handbook for Regional Water Planning | The Handbook provides a framework for considering natural disasters and other environmental stressors in water management planning. The handbook guides resource managers and planners with key decision considerations, resources, tools, and decision options for resilience. | Vulnerability Assessment Checklist | N/A | |
| Enhancing Sustainable Communities with Green Infrastructure Guide | The Green Infrastructure Guide helps communities plan and design green infrastructure for multiple environmental, health, social, and economic benefits. | N/A | Smart Growth (smartgrowth @epa.gov) | |
| Flood Resilience Checklist | The Flood Resilience Checklist is an assessment tool for communities to use to identify opportunities to improve their resilience to future floods through policy and regulatory tools. | The tool is currently available online with an expanded version of the tool in development. | Stephanie Bertaina (Bertaina.Stephanie @epa.gov) | Planning for Flood Recovery and Long-Term Resilience in Vermont |
| Storm Water Management Model with Climate Adjustment Tool - SWMM-CAT | A comprehensive computer model for analysis of quantity and quality problems associated with urban runoff. | SWMM-CAT Users Guide (PDF)(17 pp, 807 K) | SWMM Support (swmm@epa.gov) | N/A |
| Watershed Index Online (WSIO) | The WSIO Tool is an application that enables users to compare watersheds in a user-defined geographic area, using factors of their own choosing. It calculates indices, compares watersheds, and produces results in rank-ordered tables, graphs and maps. Most national datasets require knowledge of advanced GIS skills and software. WSIO transforms these data into simple watershed indicators, and then makes them accessible in a common spreadsheet application (Excel). | Quick Start Users Guide. This file contains the basic steps to get started, and is recommended for download along with your WSIO customized tool. | Elizabeth Smith (smith.elizabeth@epa.gov) | N/A |
| Collaborative Guide: A Reef Manager's Guide to Coral Bleaching | The Collaborative Guide: A Reef Manager's Guide to Coral Bleaching provides coral reef managers with the latest scientific information on the causes of coral bleaching and new management strategies for responding to this significant threat to coral reef ecosystems. | N/A | Jordan M. West (West.Jordan @epa.gov) | N/A |
| Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPPCAT) Model | An online tool for assessing and managing the potential impacts of natural disasters and other environmental stressors on sediment loading to streams using the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Model. | N/A | Thomas Johnson (Johnson.Thomas @epa.gov) | N/A |