Impacts of Flooding on Wastewater Infrastructure: Tradeoffs of Recovery and Resilience
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 30, Issue 4
Abstract
As climate change persists, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters has increased, emphasizing the need for resilient critical infrastructure. This study analyzes sustainability impacts of resilient and recovery infrastructure for water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) affected by flooding, considering potential operational and structural failures. A detailed inventory was collected for 10 reflective case studies to analyze life cycle environmental impacts of initial construction, recovery construction following a natural hazard, and resilience infrastructure that can help prepare for future natural hazards. Economic and additional impacts of flooding were evaluated using generalized WRRF cost models and anecdotes from relevant stakeholders, respectively. Generally, initial construction has a higher environmental and economic impact compared to recovery and resilience construction. Recovery construction tends to have higher environmental and economic impacts compared to resilience construction when major equipment replacements and repairs are necessary. Conversely, resilience construction tends to have higher environmental and economic impacts compared to recovery infrastructure when major construction activities and resources are required. If multiple flooding events occur during a facility’s design life, recovery construction impacts increase based on the number of flood events and can become larger compared to initial and resilience construction impacts, highlighting the uncertainty associated with recovery needs compared to the stability of resilience. Additional impacts of flood recovery were identified and discussed, including treatment, workers, community life, and facility impacts, which were often driving factors considered by decision-makers if resilient infrastructure was or will be implemented. This study aims to provide justification for communities, engineers, and funding agencies as they seek to protect critical wastewater infrastructure via resilient investments.
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Data Availability Statement
Life cycle inventory data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Industrial Assessment Center Award DE-EE0007718, a teaching assistantship from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and discretionary funds from Dr. P. Barutha with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The authors also would like to thank the community case studies, and their engineering consulting firms, for their willingness to share utility, operation, and construction data.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 30 • Issue 4 • December 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 30, 2023
Accepted: Jun 5, 2024
Published online: Aug 6, 2024
Published in print: Dec 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jan 6, 2025
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Case studies
- Construction engineering
- Construction equipment
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Construction methods
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Economic factors
- Engineering fundamentals
- Equipment and machinery
- Floods
- Infrastructure
- Infrastructure construction
- Infrastructure resilience
- Methodology (by type)
- Natural disasters
- Practice and Profession
- Research methods (by type)
- Water and water resources
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