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 [email protected]
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
[email protected]