Disaster debris management planning project develops into model

Beyond projecting volumes and laying out a series of actions, the plans will specify who the communities plan to turn to for materials hauling, staging, monitoring, decontamination, and ultimately a combination of recycling, composting, beneficial reuse, and landfilling. The plans are expected to be completed in 2024.

With the plans in hand, the authorities and communities will be prepared to obtain competitive bids for services and sign prepositioned contracts for the diverse services and facilities needed. According to FEMA, “The use of prepositioned contracts allows applicants to conduct a deliberate procurement process outside of the pressure and immediate demands of a disaster. It also helps to ensure that applicants have contractors ready to perform work quickly after an incident occurs when needed most.”

Competitive bidding for work is a requirement for communities to receive FEMA reimbursement for disaster expenses. So, in addition to getting the services at the best possible price, this step sets communities up to recover some of their costs.

Csapo emphasizes that communities are connected. A disaster in one township or city affects commerce, transportation, employment, and more in neighboring communities. So, partnering to take on disaster-debris management makes sense even beyond sharing expenses.

According to the January 9, 2024, press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. dealt with 28, separate billion-dollar disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 events in 2020.

“The U.S. was hit with more billion-dollar disasters in 2023 than any other year on record, highlighting the increasing risks from our changing climate,” said NOAA National Center for Environmental Information Director Deke Arndt. “Record heat waves, drought, wildfires, and floods are a sobering reminder of the consequences of the long-term warming trend we’re seeing across our country.”

Csapo hopes other community leaders seeing these trends will prioritize disaster-debris management pre-planning. He sees the RRRASOC+SOCRRA documents as a jumping-off place for DDMPP efforts in other southeast Michigan communities, or perhaps statewide. Representatives of the EPA suggested even broader use of the approach, envisioning its application throughout the United States.