Excerpts from an Aug. 11 article in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper about communities in Texas:

"Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry's outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse."

"'Because when the water is gone. That's it. We're gone.'"

Extreme weather events such as hurricanes and continuing drought can have devastating impacts to utilities. It's important that utilities identify actions they can be taking to better prepare for these events. EPA's Climate-Ready Water Utilities initiative has released a workshop planner to help utilities plan for extreme events. The workshop planner provides all of the materials needed to plan, conduct, and facilitate an adaptation planning workshop on five extreme event scenarios:  floods, drought, wildfire, sea level rise, and reduced snowpack.