Contra Costa Surveys Residents About Community Warning System

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Contra Costa Health seeks input from county residents about whether they use the Community Warning System; and if so, how well it works and if more notification options would improve it.

The community warning system —abbreviated to CWS —is an all-hazards community notification system that alerts residents about emergencies affecting public health or safety, including those from refineries and large chemical manufacturing facilities in Contra Costa County.

CCH posted a survey online at cchealth.org to gather information about community familiarity with the tool, whether polled residents are subscribed to it, and their opinions about the service.

The CWS sends free phone calls, texts and emails to anyone who signs up at cwsalerts.com. Users have subscription options, including whether to receive alerts only from certain areas of Contra Costa County, or only about certain facilities.

The survey is being conducted at the direction of the Industrial Safety Ordinance / Community Warning System Ad Hoc Committee of the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors and also asks if residents would like notifications about nearby industrial incidents that are not deemed emergencies.

The CWS was designed for emergency use; when a facility reports an unexpected release such as flaring, odors, smoke, noises or fires CWS only sends an alert to its subscribers if the incident is likely to affect health in the surrounding community, in the estimation of the facility, or the emergency responders from CCH or the fire department who are investigating.

For details about the CWS and its response levels, visit the CWS page at cchealth.org.

The county’s Hazardous Materials Incident Notification Policy requires specified facilities, including all the county’s refineries, to immediately report to the CWS whenever there is a release or threatened release of hazardous material, as well as flaring events.

Most of these are "Level 1" incidents, meaning they are received and investigated by CCH’s Hazardous Materials Response Team but are not subject to a community alert. CWS has received 227 reported Level 1 alerts so far in 2023 from industrial facilities.

Since 2022, an automated feed on cchealth.org/hazmat has displayed all active Level 1 alerts that have lasted longer than 20 minutes and are seen, heard or associated with offsite odors.

The survey asks whether subscribers should have the option to directly receive additional alerts via phone, text or email as they happen, even for incidents that may not threaten the community.

The survey is online through Jan. 12.

Once the results are tabulated, CCH will share them publicly and with the Ad Hoc Committee.

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