Guest Post by Omar Pérez-Figueroa

While intense rainfall events benefit society by making water available for consumption, they can also put water utilities under stress. Extreme weather events like flash floods and storms can lead to the shutdown of water treatment plants. These extreme weather events may become more frequent under our current climate conditions. Therefore, understanding how these events impact water and its grid is critical. It is equally critical to include the water infrastructure sector in talks about strategies to address the climate impacts. This blog presents how the water sector has had limited participation in recent climate change talks and showcases what some water utilities are doing to address pressing climate challenges.  

During the 26th meeting of the UN Climate Change Conference, a series of news media articles[1],[2],[3] were released which singled out how water was absent from the conversation on how to tackle climate change impacts. Most strategies to address climate change focus on mitigation measures, especially those leading to carbon emission reduction[4]. While focusing on carbon emission is undoubtedly important as we manage climate change impact, it is critical for water to be a key actor in developing long-lasting solutions to deal with the issue [5]. After all,  water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas[6], which increases mean temperature. Additionally, water continues to be one of the ways by which climate change impacts the earth. For example, as temperature increases, some regions will expect more rainfall on average, including extreme downpour events.

While policies worldwide are debated and created to address climate change impact, water utilities are facing the consequences of climate change at the local level. One of the pressing challenges is that critical water infrastructure (e.g., desalination and sewage plants) is located on the coast. Climate-sensitive coastal hazards will severely impact coastal states like Georgia[7]. These coastal hazards include storm surges, heavy downpours, and saltwater intrusion.

There are a few concrete ways climate change can impact water assets[8]. These impacts include:

1. increased precipitation leading to infrastructure damage and soil runoff,

2. increase in air and water temperature leading to faster evaporation and asset corrosion, and

3. sea-level rise could bring water infrastructure underwater, and decrease freshwater availability as an effect of saltwater intrusion into the groundwater aquifers. 

Consequently, water utilities and planners are already taking steps to reduce and mitigate climate change impacts. However, these climate change strategies and plans need also to consider other problems like aging infrastructure and increased urbanization[9]. Climate change mitigation strategies can focus on infrastructure, incentives, and training. Water utilities are at the forefront of some of the infrastructure strategies. For example, the City of Ann Arbor uses part of its stormwater utility to fund an Urban Trees Program. The city has experienced a 25% increase in precipitation over the last 30 years, so trees have been used to address the stormwater problem. Another way of reducing stormwater runoff has been the implementation of green roofs and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) initiatives. While green roofs benefit cities by reducing the heat island effect and improving green space, they can also retain anywhere from 45% to 75% of rainfall depending on the type of installed systems. Georgia has at least two state-of-the-art projects in this area: The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at Georgia Tech and the LEED building at the World of Coca-Cola. The Georgia Tech building has infiltrated fifteen times the amount of water needed for its operations. The LEED initiatives at the Coca-Cola vegetated grounds and a reflective roof have also reduced the urban “heat island effect.” Other innovative measures to reduce water runoff have included the implementation of incentives to reduce the impervious surface of a property. For example, the 2018 Georgia stormwater fees survey by the EFC at UNC showed that there are at least 46 stormwater utilities in the state that charge property owners based on impervious areas. Property owners can lower their fees by installing stormwater measures to reduce their impervious surfaces, e.g., rain gardens and cisterns.

Other ways water utilities are being supported to address a changing climate are through partnerships among fellow water utilities. For example, the UN-Habitat has created GWOPA (Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance) which focuses on building public partnerships between water utilities which lends peer support for operational and environmental problems. GWOPA focuses on building the capacity of water operator staff. The partnership between operators is carried out on a not-for-profit basis. As part of these efforts, GWOPA created the #UtilityClimateActionSession—a series of webinars providing hands-on training to water and wastewater utilities facing climate hazards, primarily floods, drought, heat, and wildfire. In Georgia specifically, the GAWARN has been a useful resource after several weather events. It is part of a Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) created after Katrina to help other utilities with emergency response coordination, sharing personnel, and preparing for future disasters.

As climate change continues to impact our way of life, we need all hands on deck to address its consequences. However, many water utilities are already implementing diverse strategies and plan to tackle climate change consequences. Still, water utilities need to be more involved in conversations and policies seeking to tackle extreme weather events.

[1] Moriarty, P. (2021, November 2). Opinion: At cop 26, what about water? | Devex. Devex.com. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-at-cop-26-what-about-water-101957  

[2] Johnson, S. (2021, November 10). World's 'calamitous' water crisis being ignored in climate talks – WaterAid. The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/10/global-water-crisis-ignored-cop26-climate-talks-wateraid

[3] Warmenbol, C. (2021, October 29). Water sector thirsty for change at climate cop. IUCN. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.iucn.org/news/water/202110/water-sector-thirsty-change-climate-cop

[4] Sargen, N. (2021, November 1). Pricing carbon emissions to tackle Climate Change Beats Regulations. Forbes. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicksargen/2021/11/01/pricing-carbon-emissions-to-tackle-climate-change-beats-regulations/?sh=626153096b1f  

[5] Tan, D. (2021, December 16). Are we more or less water secure post COP26? China Water Risk. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://www.chinawaterrisk.org/resources/analysis-reviews/are-we-more-or-less-water-secure-post-cop26/

[6] Denchak, M. (2019, July 23). Greenhouse effect 101. Natural Resources Defense Council. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greenhouse-effect-101

[7] Allen, T. R., Crawford, T., Montz, B., Whitehead, J., Lovelace, S., Hanks, A. D., ... & Kearney, G. D. (2019). Linking water infrastructure, public health, and sea level rise: integrated assessment of flood resilience in coastal cities. Public Works Management & Policy, 24(1), 110-139.

[8] Low, L. (2019, November 27). How climate change impacts infrastructure: Experts explain. The University of Sydney. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/11/27/how-climate-change-impacts-infrastructure--experts-explain.html

[9] Diaz, P., & Yeh, D. (2014). Adaptation to climate change for water utilities. In Water reclamation and sustainability (pp. 19-56). Elsevier.

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