From Washington to the Water Sector: Advancing Resilience at West Yost 

By Andrew Ohrt, Principal Technical Specialist 

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In early February, I spent several days in Washington, D.C., and the conversations from that week have continued to shape how I think about resilience, cybersecurity, and West Yost’s role in helping utilities prepare for what is ahead. 

The dialogues and events I participated in brought together many of the issues now shaping the future of the water sector: cybersecurity, infrastructure risk, artificial intelligence, climate uncertainty, operational preparedness, and the growing need for practical approaches that help utilities continue serving their communities during disruption. 

The timing was especially meaningful as West Yost continues to shape and grow our Resilience Services under the leadership of Andy Bochman, our Resilience Strategic Lead. Since joining the firm in late 2025, Andy has helped bring greater clarity and structure to a body of work that has long been part of West Yost’s DNA. Resilience is not new to the firm, but we are now naming it, connecting it, and communicating it more intentionally.  

My time in Washington also included a major highlight: recognition through a Cyber Policy Award: Research Impact. Being on stage with Ginger Wright and Ben Lampe from Idaho National Laboratory and Cheri Caddy from Savannah River National Laboratory was a proud moment, not just because of the award itself, but because of what it represented. The tools, partnerships, and approaches we have been advancing are becoming part of a national conversation about how critical infrastructure sectors can better prepare for the risks ahead. 

For me, the week reinforced something we continue to see in our work with clients: resilience is no longer a future-focused concept. It is central to how utilities and public agencies plan, design, operate, and make decisions in an increasingly complex risk landscape.  

Resilience Is a National Priority 

I attended a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing focused on water sector cybersecurity and the discussion highlighted many of the challenges facing utilities across the country, including limited resources, evolving cyber threats, and the difficulty of applying broad requirements to a sector that includes organizations of every size, structure, and capacity. 

It was striking to hear terms like programmable logic controllers and network segmentation discussed with sitting senators. That alone says something important about where the conversation is headed. Cybersecurity and operational resilience are no longer niche technical topics. They are now part of how national leaders are thinking about public health, public safety, and the continuity of critical services. 

At the same time, the hearing reinforced the need for practical solutions. Utilities need approaches that reflect how their systems actually operate, how decisions are made, and how limited time and resources can be used wisely. That is another way I believe West Yost can provide real value. 

Moving from Awareness to Action 

One of the major themes throughout my time in Washington was the growing recognition that risks do not occur in isolation. Cybersecurity, energy reliability, physical infrastructure, climate hazards, emergency response, and organizational decision-making are deeply connected. A disruption in one area can quickly affect another. 

That integrated view is central to how we are building Resilience Services at West Yost. Our framework defines resilience as both a service and a way of thinking, connecting expertise across planning, design, technology, cybersecurity, program delivery, and operations to help clients strengthen systems, reduce risk, and improve long-term performance.  

Our approach is organized around three core ideas: 

Integrated Risk: 
Resilience challenges rarely occur alone. Physical, energy, and digital risks are interconnected, and disruption in one area can quickly impact another. 

Proactive Preparedness
Resilient organizations anticipate disruption and plan ahead. Clear plans, exercised playbooks, and practiced decision-making help teams respond with confidence. 

Designed to Perform:
Resilient systems are intentionally designed to remain functional even when conditions change or supporting systems fail. 

Those ideas came up repeatedly in Washington, whether the conversation was about Cyber-informed Engineering, artificial intelligence, climate risk, energy reliability, or water sector policy. 

“Resilience often depends on clarity, thoughtful design, and, when possible, simplification.”

Resilience as a Service and a Connector 

One of Andy Bochman’s most helpful framings is that resilience can be both a service and a connector. It does not sit within one discipline or sector. It strengthens and amplifies the work happening across West Yost, from master planning and capital improvement planning to operations technology, cybersecurity, treatment, infrastructure, construction management, and program delivery.  

That is an important distinction. Resilience is not something separate from the work our team members already do. Across the firm, team members have been helping clients reduce risk, improve reliability, and strengthen long-term system performance for years. We just have not always called that work resilience. 

By naming it more clearly, we help clients better understand the value of what we are already doing and where we can help them go next. 

Andy also brings an important reminder that resilience does not always mean adding more complexity. In many cases, too much complexity creates new vulnerabilities, new interdependencies, and systems that are harder to understand and operate. Resilience often depends on clarity, thoughtful design, and, when possible, simplification.  

Our goal is to help utilities understand their risks, prioritize what matters most, and make decisions that strengthen long-term performance. 

Building on Partnerships and Practical Tools 

My time in Washington included conversations with Idaho National Laboratory, the American Water Works Association, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and other resilience and cybersecurity leaders. 

A major focus of these conversations was Cyber-informed Engineering, or CIE. CIE helps organizations “engineer out” cyber-risk from their infrastructure. It focuses on managing the consequences of a cyber-incident, asking what must not happen and then designing systems to prevent or mitigate those outcomes. 

This is especially important for the water sector. Utilities need approaches grounded in engineering, operations, and real-world decision-making. Cybersecurity cannot be treated as something separate from infrastructure planning, design, and operations. It has to be part of how we think about system performance and continuity. 

These conversations also touched on artificial intelligence, utility resilience tools, climate-informed planning, and how to talk with clients about emerging national security risks without creating fear or confusion. Each topic reinforced the same point: resilience must be practical, grounded, and connected to the actual decisions utilities are making. 

Why This Matters for Clients & Partners 

For the organizations we are fortunate to work with, resilience is not abstract. It affects their ability to deliver critical services during disruption, reduce costly emergency repairs and unplanned downtime, improve system reliability, make clearer decisions under uncertain conditions, and strengthen long-term financial and operational performance.  

That is why our work must be both technically strong and easy to understand. Clients do not need resilience as a buzzword. They need support that helps them answer practical questions: 

1. Which risks could create the greatest consequences? 

2. Where are our systems dependent on power, technology, people, or outside support? 

3. How do we make better decisions before, during, and after disruption? 

4. How do we design projects today that will still perform under tomorrow’s conditions? 

These are the types of questions West Yost is well positioned to help answer because our Resilience Services draw from expertise across the firm. When planning, operations technology, cybersecurity, treatment, infrastructure, construction management, and program delivery perspectives come together, resilience becomes more than a planning concept. It becomes something clients can act on. 

Continuing the Conversation at AWWA’s ACE26 in Washington, D.C. 

Andy Bochman and I spoke over several sessions at ACE26 in June 2026. Our sessions focused on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cyber-informed engineering, and the geopolitics that drive many of the resilience investments that utilities have to make these days. A summary of our time at ACE26 will be detailed in a future West Yost Word! 

To learn more about our Resilience team and efforts, visit the West Yost website: https://www.westyost.com/resilience-services/