How Close Are We To Water Bankruptcy?

Some years ago, I was presenting a seminar to an audience of local emergency managers. Part of my presentation was a discussion on the tendency of the public to focus on the “flavour of the month” disaster rather than on true risk. One of the examples I used was the focus on Y2K that we had recently experienced and the true versus perceived risks. One of the issues I discussed was water. During the discussion, I used a throw away line, “Water wars are coming; you heard it hear first.” I didn’t realize how prescient that statement was to become.

The reason I made that statement may have been subconscious. I had recently been reading William Ashworth’s book Nor Any Drop to Drink that discussed a looming water crisis. As a Californian, I’d also had experience frequent droughts, the worst at the time being in 2007-2009. The conference at which I was speaking was in 2009, so both were fresh in my mind.

© 2026 - Lucien G. Canton



Lucien Canton is a management consultant specializing in helping managers lead better in a crisis. He is the former Director of Emergency Services for San Francisco and the author of the best-selling Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs used as a textbook in many higher education courses.

ICS Doesn’t Solve Incident Problems

Lately I’ve been seeing another uptick in people espousing use of the Incident Command System (ICS) as a solution to incident management problems which far exceed what ICS actually is or does. Time and again I read posts and comments speaking of ICS as if it is the only thing needed for successful incident management. It appears that people think that ICS will solve problems. It doesn’t. People solve problems. Use of ICS can facilitate some of that problem solving, but people are still required. ICS won’t dictate what the priorities are of any given incident. It won’t tell you who is in charge of the incident. What I’m seeing in many of these posts seems to indicate a continued misunderstanding of what ICS is and is not and a false sense of security that seems to go with that.

These kinds of statements take me back to a stakeholder interview I conducted about 12 years ago, several months after the area was struck by a major hurricane. I asked what needs they had to better prepare for future incidents and the response was something akin to ‘Oh, we’re totally prepared now that we’ve had ICS training’. Let that statement sink in for a moment. They had no concerns about the severe lack of emergency plans or resources for the jurisdiction. Even knowing that functional issues such as swift water rescue or mass care were serious areas for improvement from the hurricane response, he felt they were ready for whatever might come solely because of ICS training. The false sense of security is frightening and extremely concerning, especially since this statement came from the town’s fire chief.

© 2026 - Timothy Riecker, CEDP

Used with Permission

Tim Riecker is a founding member, partner and principal consultant with Emergency Preparedness Solutions, LLC, a private consulting firm serving government, businesses, and not for profit organizations in various aspects of emergency and disaster preparedness.

Update on The FEMA Review Council

An interesting development on the FEMA Review Council, possibly because of media reminders that the Council was about to expire without publicly issuing its report. Today, Trump issued an order extending the Review Council until March 25, 2026. The order further empowers DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to perform the functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act as applicable to the Review Council. Continuance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council – The White House

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the President may delegate responsibility to evaluate and to take appropriate action respecting all public recommendations made to the President by Presidential advisory committees. 5 USC § 1005(a). The Act also provides that within one year of a presidential advisory committee submitting a *public report* to the President, the President or their delegate must submit a report to Congress containing either proposals for action or reasons for inaction on the recommendations in the advisory committee’s public report. 5 USC § 1005(b). https://lnkd.in/gtqUgX6t

The extension’s language suggests that the Review Council will issue some kind of public report, and that Noem will be the one on the hook for implementing — or not implementing — the report’s recommendations. That way, when DHS continues its gutting of FEMA, Trump can blame his DHS Secretary for the calamitous outcomes. 

© 2026 Edie Schaffer

Used with permission

Edie Schaffer, JD, CEM, CA-PEM is an an emergency planner, writer, researcher, and attorney. She served as a Program Specialist with the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Management, and as an Emergency Planner with the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (DEM). During the Covid crisis she served in the San Francisco Covid Command Center as a Logistics Section Personnel & Staffing Branch Director, then served as Manager of the San Francisco Department of Human Resources (DHR) Department Operations Center (DOC).

The National Preparedness Course Catalog is an online searchable catalog featuring a compilation of courses managed by the three primary FEMA training organizations: the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), the National Disaster & Emergency Management University (NDEMU), and the National Training and Education Division (NTED). The National Preparedness Course Catalog features a wide range of course topics in multiple delivery modes to meet the increasing training needs of Federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal audiences.

Conferences and Webinars

Operationalizing AI for Business Continuity Programs

FREE WEBINAR

February 4, 2026

1 PM Central Standard Time

AI is increasingly shaping how business continuity teams work. It can strengthen readiness, reduce manual effort, and support faster, more confident decisions during disruptions. By adopting and implementing AI, many continuity teams are turning static plans into usable data faster than ever before, surfacing gaps before they become failures, and making testing and improvement part of everyday operations instead of annual exercises. In this seminar, Fusion Risk Management will share a practical view of where AI is delivering value across business continuity programs today.

ADA National Network Learning Session:

Unleashing Service Animal Best Practices in Healthcare Settings 

FREE WEBINAR

February 19, 2025

2:30 PM Eastern Time / 11:30 AM Pacific Time

The ADA sets clear rules for service animals, yet real-world application in healthcare is rarely one-size-fits-all. This session goes beyond the two allowable questions to examine policies, procedures, and practices across emergency, outpatient, inpatient, and long-term care settings. Through real-world scenarios, participants will explore rights and responsibilities to harness greater understanding of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.

RESCON New Orleans

March 9-11, 2026

New Orleans, Louisiana

This premier annual conference is the ultimate platform for professionals to delve into the practice of successful resilience and disaster management in our ever-evolving global environment. Based in New Orleans, this 3-day conference is designed to foster collaboration and ignite new ideas, ensuring participants leave with a fresh perspective and renewed motivation.

Disaster Recovery Journal Conference Spring 2026

March 15-18, 2026

Orlando, Florida

DRJ is the professional community for business continuity, disaster recovery, and operational resilience—education and conferences—equipping practitioners to reduce downtime, protect people, and prove ROI.

51st Annual Natural Hazards Workshop

June 14 - 17, 2026

Broomfield, Colorado

The Workshop brings together federal, state, and local mitigation and emergency management officials and planning professionals; representatives of nonprofit, private sector, and humanitarian organizations; hazards and disaster researchers; and others dedicated to alleviating the impacts of disasters."

74th Annual IAEM Conference and EMEX

November 6-12, 2026

Long Beach, California

Sponsored by the International Association of Emergency Managers, this conference provides a forum for current trends and topics, information about the latest tools and technology in emergency management and homeland security, and advance IAEM committee work.

©Lucien G. Canton 2026. All rights reserved.

You may reprint and excerpt this newsletter provided that you include my copyright, the source,

the author, and "reprinted with permission."

ISSN: 2334-590X