The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the world’s leading One Water research and innovation organization representing
Project Description:
Utilities, municipalities, and counties are at a crossroads; not only must they face external stressors due to climate change (e.g. extreme events with increasing frequency and intensity), but they must also address aging infrastructure, population shifts (densification and shrinking cities), and additional pressure on networks already over-capacity. Adaptive management strategies for improving water management policies and practice based on past experiences is needed to appropriately account for such uncertainty. This project focuses on finding the balance (or the “sweet spot”) for how utilities select adaptive volume and pollutant source control best management practices (BMPs) for wet weather events using a holistic, or triple-bottom line approach. Strategies will be geospatially analyzed across three EPA regions (Regions 3, 5, and another TBD) to provide a decision-support framework for utilities and impacted communities to explore options for wet weather management based on their local context and desired goals.
Project Outcomes:
- Guidance document with a decision support framework
- Interactive ESRI StoryMap
- Public outreach factsheets
- Academic peer-review journal article
Thank you to WRF for their support of this important work.