Instructions for Utilities to Identify Highly Impacted Communities

Highly impacted communities meet at least one of the following two criteria:

• The census tract is covered or partially covered by ‘Indian Country' as defined in and designated by statute.
• The census tract ranks a 9 or 10 on the Environmental Health Disparities Map, as designated by the Department of Health (DOH).

There are two ways to use the DOH tools to identify highly impacted communities in your jurisdiction. One is by accessing the Highly Impacted Communities Data Table, the other is through the Environmental Health Disparities Map.

Note: We are aware that there are some discrepancies in the utility service area boundaries due to mapping inaccuracies. If you encounter any of these discrepancies, please let us know at EHDmap@doh.wa.gov.

Note: The current designations of tribal lands were created using the Department of Ecology's tribal boundary layer. DOH and tribes are engaged in ongoing discussion on which census tracts should be considered tribal census tracts. We will update the tribal boundary layer on the EHD map once we come to consensus.

Option 1 to Identify Highly Impacted Communities

Use the Highly Impacted Communities Data Table

The easiest way to identify highly impacted communities within utility district boundaries is by using the Highly Impacted Communities Data Table (CSV).

1. Open the Highly Impacted Communities Data Table. Each row has information about the census tracts in each utility boundary.
2. Use ‘Electric Utility Company Name' column to find the utility you are interested in. The utilities are listed alphabetically.
3. Use the ‘Utility has Highly Impacted Community (Yes/No)' column to identify if that utility has any highly impacted communities. “Yes” means that the selected utility has at least one highly impacted community within its boundaries. “No” means that utility has no highly impacted communities. Not all utilities will have a highly impacted community within their boundaries.
4. Use the ‘Highly Impacted Community (Yes/No)' column to identify whether a community is highly impacted or not. “Yes” means that the community is highly impacted. “No” means that the community is not highly impacted.
5. The additional columns provide information to support the highly impacted community designation. The ‘Tribal Lands (Yes/No)' and ‘Environmental Health Disparities Topic Rank' columns show what led to a community being designated as highly impacted.

Option 2 to Identify Highly Impacted Communities

Use the Environmental Health Disparities Map

The other way to identify highly impacted communities is by using the Environmental Health Disparities Map on the Washington Tracking Network's Information by Location tool. To learn how to navigate the map, watch the Information by Location Tool video.

1. Select the “Environmental Health Disparities” map topic from the selection menu on the Information by Location tool.
2. Identify the census tracts within a utility district by first navigating to the Map Features tab, to display all of the overlay map options available for this map. Then select the map overlay for the appropriate type of utility – investor or public ownership. Zoom in to your coverage area to see which census tracts are served by your utility.
   
3. Identify the census tracts with ranks of 9 or 10 by looking for those in dark red. Rankings are color coded, with highest rankings in dark red. Another way to identify the rank of the census tract is to de-select your utility boundary overlay map, and then select each census tract in your utility boundary to see its rank.
   
4. Identify census tracts including tribal land by selecting the tribal land boundary overlay map in the Map Features tab. Tribal lands will be identified in gold on the map.
   

Use the EHD Measures to Understand the EHD Rankings

The overall EHD rankings are based on the rankings of each measure within the EHD. The EHD contains 19 measures, grouped in to four themes. These themes are Environmental Exposures, Environmental Effects, Socioeconomic Factors, and Sensitive Populations.

 

The rankings are visible in the color-coded boxes at the far right of the menu after you select a community on the map. Each theme can be expanded to show the measures it contains, and their rankings.

 

 

By looking at the measure and theme rankings, you can get a better understanding of what led to a community receiving its overall ranking. This information can be useful for thinking about what kinds of projects might be most beneficial for that area.

Information About Climate Change Projection Measures

In addition to the data available on the Environmental Health Disparities map, four climate projection data measures were developed for this Cumulative Impact Analysis that project heat and precipitation data to the period circa 2050 (2036-2065). These measures do not factor into the Environmental Health Disparities ranking or the designation of highly impacted communities but may be used when planning for local implications of climate change. These climate projections are limited in that they only project heat and precipitation and do not include important factors such as inland and coastal flooding, wildfire risk, or other impacts. Complete data notes and data visualization for each measure is available on the WTN Query Portal.

Change in Cooling Degree Days and Heating Degree Days: Cooling and heating degree days are measures of how much the weather varies from 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This indicates how much energy is needed to heat or cool buildings. Both an increase (positive number) in cooling degree days and a decrease (negative number) in heating degree days indicate warming temperatures. Adaptations for dealing with warmer climates might include such things as cooling centers and increased urban tree canopies. Access the cooling degree days and heating degree days maps on the query portal by clicking the green “Submit button” and selecting the “Map” tab.

Cooling Degree Days (increase in cooling needed to reach 65F):

 

 

Heating Degree Days (decrease in heating needed to reach 65F):

 

 

Change in Days over 99^th Percentile Threshold: While cooling and heating degree days are absolute measures of the increase in temperature, this measure shows the relative increase in hot days that will affect an area compared to the historical (1976-2005) threshold. This measure captures the percentage increase in extreme heat days. Areas that have historically not had many extreme heat days may feel greater impacts from the addition of just a few extra extreme heat days than areas that are historically accustomed to experiencing them. Adaptations might include increased air conditioning installation in areas that previously haven't needed them. Access the Change in Days over 99th Percentile map on the query portal by clicking the green “Submit button” and selecting the “Map” tab.

 

 

Change in Annual Precipitation: The dark areas of the map show where we anticipate the biggest relative change in precipitation. Climate change impacts means heavier rainfall, and more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. As a result, areas of Washington will see more flooding, flash floods and landslides. Climate adaptation to prepare for these events might include additional planning for flooding, landslides, and drought. Access the Change in Annual Precipitation map on the query portal by clicking the green “Submit button” and selecting the “Map” tab.

 

Webinar

The Department of Health, the University of Washington, and Front and Centered hosted a webinar to walk through the framework for how communities were designated as "highly impacted" and how utilities could find highly impacted communities within their boundaries. Watch a recording of the webinar or download the presentation slide deck (PDF).