Recent research from lessons learned information sharing: the importance of partnerships in the rural water response to Hurricane Katrina.

* On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated local water systems in Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Alabama.

* Power outages shut off water service for entire communities.

* Downed trees and damaged structures ripped up main water lines and destroyed water wells.

* Large accumulations of debris complicated efforts to deliver emergency generators and to locate and repair leaks.

* The hurricane affected over 4,000 drinking-water systems that served more than 15 million residents in the region.

* Water restoration efforts largely relied on the endeavors of state and local water officials and their networks of informal partnerships.

* Drawing on these networks, many local water personnel were able to improvise quick solutions to communications and delivery obstacles.

* In Livingston Parish, Louisiana, a circuit rider procured a flatbed tow truck and 20 water storage tanks from a colleague to dispense potable water.

* He reached an area that might otherwise have had to wait days for water restoration.

* Water technicians were so quick to reach parts of Louisiana that they were sometimes the first responders to arrive at the scene.

* In many cases, they brought the first emergency relief supplies into the area, including bottled water and prepackaged meals.

* Personnel from the Mississippi Rural Water Association (MsRWA) also made continual use of informal networks.

* They utilized friends and colleagues to request generators, fuel supplies, technical assistance, and other forms of support.

* Many of the colleagues came from regional networks, including volunteer utility crews who deployed from Florida.

* Water managers were able to restore water access for many communities within days, although utility companies could not restore electrical power to some of the same areas for another week or more.

* The Hurricane Katrina response thus highlighted the importance of strong networks linking water operators with rural water association staff and connecting those state and local water technicians with their regional counterparts.

* As the 2006 hurricane season loomed, officials from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi began to consider mechanisms for formalizing a larger emergency support network.

* The idea of a mutual-aid network for water and wastewater utilities emerged in the San Francisco Bay Area after that region suffered two devastating disasters, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1991 Oakland Hills wildfire.

* After the wildfire, representatives of Bay Area utilities worked together to establish a mutual-aid agreement and resource database.

* In 1996, this arrangement expanded into a statewide utility network known as the California Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (CalWARN).

* This network maintains a Web-based database of state utilities and their resources.

* The database allows utility personnel to rapidly match available equipment and personnel with the needs of a damaged utility.

* The WARN system also encourages the development of official mutual-aid agreements between member utilities.