INFRASTRUCTURE
How to assess and improve critical water infrastructure in Canada’s North
Supplying drinking and wastewater treatment in remote communities such as Griese Fiord, Nunavut is particularly challenging.
By George W. Thorpe and Ken Johnson
I
nfrastructure and system health after severe disturbances was initially calculated by estimating and managing the risk. Design of infrastructure was limited by the risk focus. Several years ago, this evolved to “Design for Sustainability” and has now advanced into a more comprehensive “Design for Resilience”. Critical infrastructure (CI) includes processes, systems and services that could cause death, discomfort or destruction if even momentarily disrupted. If it is networked or interconnected, the impact on CI could be magnified. It is becoming increasingly important in Canada’s northern areas to assess and improve critical infrastructure resilience by developing a methodology for utilizing an advanced engineering design framework, as many factors there are different than in urban areas further south. It is not easy to identify infrastructure resilience until after a severe disturbance, when the full recovery time is recorded. Each system has a specific quantifiable value and quantifying these is key. 10 | December 2018
A leader in resilience science, Dr. Slobodan P. Simonovic, has researched and advanced many facets of this complex subject. He recommends the move from focusing on disaster risk reduction strategies to focusing on building disaster resilience through effective adaptation actions. He and his colleagues have worked on the development of a systems approach to quantification of resilience that allows: • Capturing temporal and spatial dynamics of water management. • Better understanding of factors contributing to resilience. • More systematic assessment of various measures to increase resilience. Dr. Simonovic has also developed quantitative dynamic resilience measures, which have two main qualities: inherent (functions well during non-disaster periods) and adaptive (flexibility in response during disastrous events). Systems resilience, by definition, is the ability of an engineered system to provide required capability in the face of adversity. Resilience in the realm of systems engineering involves identifying the capabilities that are required of the system, adverse conditions under which the system is required to deliver those
capabilities, and the engineering design to ensure that the system can provide the required capabilities. NEED FOR RESILIENT DESIGN By employing a “Design for Resilience” methodology, infrastructure and systems can quickly return to near normal functionality in the event of severe disturbances. A wide range of shocks and stresses can impact CI. These events might include: damage; loss of power, water, human access, control of infrastructure due to severe rain, flooding, high winds, lightning, earthquakes, other natural disasters; or even cyber attacks. In the Arctic, there are additional issues with permafrost thaw, ground slumping, water shortages, distance between communities and communication challenges. For North of 60 degrees latitude, we must also design for longer term climatic influences, including sea level rise, floods, higher temperatures, severe storms, less permafrost, lower river levels, and lower stored water levels due to drought from a warming planet. “Design for Resilience” combines stakeholder interaction with various engineercontinued overleaf…
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine
