Study Finds Lack of Climate Change Adaptation by Water Utilities

It’s no secret that climate change poses all kinds of risks and challenges for utilities in every sector, which is why climate change adaptation is necessary.

For electric utilities, this means a greater focus on storm hardening initiatives to boost reliability and new technology to boost resilience.  For gas utilities that have historically not been accustomed to dealing with major outages, this means a greater focus on emergency training, exercises and drills to prepare for a new era of weather risk.  And for water utilities, this means monitoring and reacting to shifts in water and flood patterns.

Why Water Utilities Must Improve Climate Change Adaptation

Water utilities supply water, and therefore any changes to water source patterns must be addressed.  With climate change, future winters can be expected to be warmer, drought conditions can be expected to expand, and the frequency and severity of topography-changing severe weather events can be expected to increase.  All these factors are likely to alter water sources and patterns in the future.

Unfortunately, a new research paper from the University of California, Davis shows that water system operators vary widely in their desire and ability to plan for this emerging risk.  Water operators in larger, metropolitan-based areas are far more likely to be planning for this, compared to smaller water utilities in rural areas which largely choose to ignore the risk.

The paper suggests that regulators should develop policies that mandate the development of emergency plans that address this risk, and should provide easy-to-understand educational materials to enhance water operators’ awareness of the risk.

The bottom line is that water is a precious resource, and its availability impacts everyone, so the time is now for water utilities to get ahead of the curve and make climate change adaptation an ingrained element of all planning activities.