Toward a More Resilient Water Utility Infrastructure

Impacts from a changing climate likely will affect utility budgets and bottom lines, and sooner than they may think. Impacts include: forest fires, floods, drought, extreme weather events and sea level rise. At the very least these issues should be assessed and acted on before doing any new large capital expenditures or expansion projects. A checklist of issues was developed for utilities to consider when assessing a utility’s vulnerabilities to climate change impacts. To learn about what is being done and what should be done around climate resiliency planning we interviewed representatives from water utilities. Based on these interviews with utility managers and other stakeholders, several strategies for small-to-medium sized utilities were identified that would allow then to pursue planning and infrastructure development around resiliency. The strategies include: integrate into existing core planning processes, staff education and recruitment, alternative infrastructure, messaging, water conservation and rate structures, modeling, regulation, and funding.