How many billion-dollar shocks can water withstand?
Yearly billion-dollar disasters are on the rise
1980s
3
2010s
12
This increased frequency of acute shocks creates large capital expenditures organizations cannot afford.
Chronic stressors can be just as costly
Stressors can be found across the entire spectrum of people, assets and digital. Ignoring them can be as harmful as an acute shock, yet they are continually left out of the resilience conversation.
Carly Foster discusses stressors that can pose bigger threats than shocks and shares two other resilience misconceptions.
People want more access to usage data, and as companies introduce in-home sensors and self-monitoring tools, communities’ relationships with water will evolve. Utilities must consider new strategies for engaging customers, answering questions and improving experiences.
Customer expectations
Each day, 14-18% of treated water in the U.S. is lost due to aging pipes. The estimated average age of U.S. water pipes is 45 years, and their advanced age might play a role in the 27% rise in North American water main breaks between 2012 and 2018.
Aging infrastructure
If rate trends of the past several years continue, 36% of households will not be able to afford water within the next 5 years.
Affordability
Around 30% of U.S. water utility workers are expected to retire in the next decade, creating challenges around knowledge transfer and succession planning.
Plus, competition for skills to maintain and protect increasingly digital networks will be fierce. Anticipated demand for software developers and information security analysts will grow more than 25% from 2016 to 2026, more than double the growth rate of more conventional water sector roles.
Workforce concerns
Consumer's rates year-to-year climb
Consumers are not the only ones concerned; only 13.9% of utilities feel fully able to cover costs of providing service in the future.
Affordabality
Are utilities equipped to cover costs?
Average age of U.S. water pipe infrastructure by region
"Resilience planning done right creates a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That will take a move away from asset-level thinking and into systems-level thinking. Carefully assessing the entire system, including aspects like mobility, energy and ecology, helps stakeholders see benefits and costs clearly. That’s critical to bankability.”
Edgar Westerhof
Carly Foster says the age of single purpose infrastructure needs to be over.
5 key steps to reimagine resilience
1.
Picture a fit-for-future organization equipped to handle any of your community’s needs, both large and small.
Envision
Conduct an honest assessment of your assets and organization.
Assess
2.
Foster a culture of innovation and embed digital transformation into your strategic planning.
Transform
3.
Source: Bluefield Research
Source: American Water Works Assocation
Source: American Water Works Assocation
Source: National Centers for Environment Information, Bluefield Research
Source: Bluefield Research
If rate trends of the past several years continue, 36% of households will not be able to afford water within the next 5 years.
Affordability - Consumers
Consumer's rates year-to-year climb
Affordability - Utilities
Arcadis National Director for Flood Risk and Resilience
1/5
2/5
3/5
4/5
5/5
35%
32%
17%
17%
6%
22%
34%
38%
16%
20%
32%
32%
5%
17%
35%
43%
Northeast
South
Midwest
West
Empower your workforce to be a more adaptive, agile and customer-focused organization.
Improve
4.
Embrace continuous improvement as a standard operating procedure and make decisions supported by data.
Mature and assure
5.
Strategizing equitable flood mitigation
By applying leading-edge techniques for water management, landscape architecture, flood protection and urban design, Norfolk is taking a bold step toward being a model of coastal resilience. The Ohio Creek Watershed project will serve as a proof of concept for innovative adaptation capabilities, and city leaders hope to turn Norfolk into a “living lab” for testing innovative flood resilience solutions.
With a stronger shoreline defense and stormwater management strategy in place, the city will maintain its place a premier model for coastal resilience. Waterfront development can continue to thrive, and residents can rest easier knowing they will be safeguarded against ever-rising sea levels.
Norfolk, VA, is behind only New Orleans in terms of people threatened by rising sea levels. When the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the National Resilience Development Competition (NRDC) in 2014, city leaders saw a chance to begin building the model coastal city of the future.
A model of coastal resilience
Norfolk partnered with our resilience experts to develop an NRDC application with plans that expanded beyond the pumps, gates and levees that most water management projects focus on. The team highlighted the ways proposed solutions would create a more interconnected and equitable city, where all neighborhoods could access critical infrastructure and Norfolk’s robust city center.
HUD awarded $120.5 million to Norfolk to transform the Ohio Creek Watershed. Our specialists helped develop work packages for program management, design and environmental permitting. After securing the design role, Arcadians re-engaged stakeholders to confirm the plans would optimize return on investment.
Resilience in action: Redefining adaptation to build a coastal city of the future
Carly Foster says the age of single purpose infrastructure needs to be over.
Urban and Community Resilience Practice Lead
Carly Foster
“[A common] misunderstanding is this idea that resilience and sustainability are mutually exclusive. I think of sustainability as a characteristic of resilience.”
<30 years
31 - 60 years
61 - 100 years
>100 years
Slightly
Not at all
Moderately
Very
Fully
% Respondents
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
9.8%
14.2%
19.5%
21.8%
19.4%
21%
19.1%
13.9%
32.3%
29.1%
Current ability
Future ability
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2012
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2019
2020
2021
5.40%
6.24%
3.98%
2.03%
5.26%
1.53%
1.46%
6.37%
4.31%
Water
Sewer
Average bill per month, US$
3/5
5/5
4/5
2/5
1/5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2012
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2019
2020
2021
5.40%
6.24%
3.98%
2.03%
5.26%
1.53%
1.46%
6.37%
4.31%
Water
Sewer
Average bill per month, US$
Slightly
Not at all
Moderately
Very
Fully
% Respondents
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
9.8%
14.2%
19.5%
21.8%
19.4%
21%
19.1%
13.9%
32.3%
29.1%
Current ability
Future ability
35%
32%
17%
17%
6%
22%
34%
38%
16%
20%
32%
32%
5%
17%
35%
43%
Northeast
South
Midwest
West
"Resilience planning done right creates a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That will take a move away from asset-level thinking and into systems-level thinking. Carefully assessing the entire system, including aspects like mobility, energy and ecology, helps stakeholders see benefits and costs clearly. That’s critical to bankability.”
Edgar Westerhof
Foster a culture of innovation and embed digital transformation into your strategic planning.
Transform
3.
Conduct an honest assessment of your assets and organization.
Assess
2.
Picture a fit-for-future organization equipped to handle any of your community’s needs, both large and small.
Envision
1.
5 key steps to reimagine resilience
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Cost US$, Billions
Number of events
Cumulative reported cost
Severe storm
Tropical cyclone
Flooding
Drought
Wildfire
Winter storm
Freeze
All causes
All causes
Norfolk, VA, is behind only New Orleans in terms of people threatened by rising sea levels. When the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the National Resilience Development Competition (NRDC) in 2014, city leaders saw a chance to begin building the model coastal city of the future.
A model of coastal resilience
Norfolk partnered with our resilience experts to develop an NRDC application with plans that expanded beyond the pumps, gates and levees that most water management projects focus on. The team highlighted the ways proposed solutions would create a more interconnected and equitable city, where all neighborhoods could access critical infrastructure and Norfolk’s robust city center.
HUD awarded $120.5 million to Norfolk to transform the Ohio Creek Watershed. Our specialists helped develop work packages for program management, design and environmental permitting. After securing the design role, Arcadians re-engaged stakeholders to confirm the plans would optimize return on investment.
Strategizing equitable flood mitigation
By applying leading-edge techniques for water management, landscape architecture, flood protection and urban design, Norfolk is taking a bold step toward being a model of coastal resilience. The Ohio Creek Watershed project will serve as a proof of concept for innovative adaptation capabilities, and city leaders hope to turn Norfolk into a “living lab” for testing innovative flood resilience solutions.
With a stronger shoreline defense and stormwater management strategy in place, the city will maintain its place a premier model for coastal resilience. Waterfront development can continue to thrive, and residents can rest easier knowing they will be safeguarded against ever-rising sea levels.
<30 years
31 - 60 years
61 - 100 years
>100 years