Water systems worldwide are increasingly under pressure due to natural hazards, posing significant risks to communities. The Department of Defense (DoD) is not immune to these water scarcity challenges. Consequently, assessing and understanding the present and potential future water stress for installations is crucial in the face of increased natural hazards and pressures outside the fence line. This research will evaluate and compare different water security tools across the Navy, Air Force, and Army, before combining and building on the tools to create a unified methodology for assessment.

The technical approach for this project is listed below:

• Compile each service's version of a “water security tool” into one easily accessible tool with additive capabilities and plug-ins complimentary to existing tools.
• Develop a tool that analyzes values and indicators for water security at any military installation and develops a quantitative definition to assess overall water security at DoD installations.
• Tri-service cooperation on a joint tool will promote consistency in how water security is assessed and comparability between installations when coordinating actions and prioritizing resources. A successful demonstration will improve the resolution and precision of water security data created for installations and decrease the number of data calls or specialized tools required to meet specific resilience requirements.

Any DoD installation will have access to a refined, adaptable water security tool that can provide site specific analysis of water security, as well as an increased understanding of existing water supply and usage. Through demonstrating the Water Security Decision Tool (WSDT) at Continental United States and Outside Continental United States locations, installations can visualize where they compare to other installations in terms of water security, identify vulnerabilities that could affect missions during both normal operations and emergency situations, identify areas that could improve water resiliency, and take actions based on WSDT output recommendations. Tool outputs provide the installation with prioritized solutions to justify funding and Program Objective Memorandum efforts. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2026)