Water Research Foundation Launches Project on Resilient Water Infrastructure

This project will be a key step in helping drinking water,
wastewater, and stormwater systems become resilient enterprises.

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Water Research Foundation has launched a new project to improve the
resiliency of water utilities, specifically around infrastructure needs.
The project, Resilient
Water Infrastructure: Improving Understanding and Assessing Needs

(#4707), will gather information from regions and municipalities (both
small and large) with various risk factors or hazards, including extreme
rainfall and flooding, sea level rise, aging infrastructure, cyber
threats, seismic activity, and drought.

“WRF has a long history of funding research on resiliency,” said Rob
Renner, CEO of the Water Research Foundation. “This new project, along
with another ongoing
resiliency project
, will expand on previous work by examining the
needs of the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater sectors,
specifically in the area of infrastructure.”

In support of that overall aim, this project has the following
objectives:

  • Establish a common definition for “resilient infrastructure” in the
    context of the water utility sector in the United States
  • Identify existing resources, ongoing efforts, best practices, and
    potential partner agencies or organizations addressing infrastructure
    resilience in the water sector, both in the United States and
    internationally
  • Identify and prioritize a set of targeted research needs and
    objectives to underpin the development of pragmatic tools and guidance
    for water utilities

The following activities will be conducted to meet the objectives of the
project:

  • Targeted Literature Review: This task
    will provide a practical understanding of water utility resilience,
    specifically addressing infrastructure resilience across small, medium
    and large utilities spanning public, private and corporatized legal
    modes.
  • Pre-Workshop Interviews: Stakeholder
    interviews will seek to identify knowledge gaps and existing research
    activities already being undertaken, in the United States and globally.
  • Workshop (August 23‒24, 2017, Denver, CO):
    A facilitated workshop will explore participants’ understandings of
    resilient water infrastructure and the key knowledge gaps that exist
    around the concept.
  • Post-Workshop Synthesis and Voting:
    Drawing on the results of the literature review, interviews, and
    workshop, a guide of existing resources and ongoing research efforts
    in the area will be created. A set of potential definitions for
    resilient water infrastructure, as well as a set of research needs for
    the topic will be created. These will be compiled into an online
    survey tool and distributed to a wide range of respondents (including
    workshop participants). The survey will ask respondents to rank
    proposed definitions and proposed research questions.

The project has been awarded to Cranfield University (UK), with Heather
Smith, PhD, serving as the Principal Investigator. For more information
or to provide input, please contact Alison Witheridge, WRF Research
Manager, at awitheridge@waterrf.org
or 303-347-6103.

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is a non-profit research
cooperative that advances the science of water to protect public health
and the environment. Governed by utilities, WRF delivers scientifically
sound research solutions and knowledge to serve our subscribers and
stakeholders in all areas of drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and
reuse. WRF has funded and managed more than 1,500 research studies from
asset management to treatment, utility finance to resource management,
conveyance systems to water quality.

Contacts

Water Research Foundation
Adam Lang, 303-347-6259
alang@waterrf.org