Marshaling Adaptive Capacities within an Adaptive Management Framework to Enhance the Resiliency of Wastewater Systems

Abstract

We assess adaptive capacity and adaptive management as measures of wastewater (WW) system resiliency using data from interviews with WW system managers (hereafter managers) impacted by past storms. Results suggest the most resilient WW systems are those with high adaptive capacities that employ an adaptive management approach to make ongoing adaptation investments over time. Greater amounts of generic adaptive capacities (i.e., skilled staff and good leadership) help smooth both day‐to‐day and emergency operations and provide a foundation for adaptive management. In turn, adaptive management helps managers both build more generic adaptive capacities, and develop and employ greater amounts and diversity of specific adaptive capacities (i.e., soft and/or hard adaptations) that are especially important for enhancing and sustaining resiliency. Adaptive management also enables managers to better understand their system's vulnerabilities, how those vulnerabilities change over time, and what specific actions may reduce those vulnerabilities. Finally, our work suggests WW system resilience critically depends on the capacities of the human systems for building resilience as much as or more so than relying only on physical infrastructure resilience. Our work contributes to filling an important gap in the literature by advancing our understanding of the human dimensions of infrastructure resilience and has practical implications for advancing resilience in the WW sector.

Drinking Water Utility-Level Understanding of Climate Change Effects to System Reliability

“…The last category includes utilities that are actively planning for climate-induced changes in water supply, water quality, and infrastructure. This small group mentioned things like scenario planning or some of the discussed tools and resources and exhibited aspects of adaptive management . Most participants fall into Categories 2 and 3, suggesting directed guidance is needed to improve the state of water utility preparedness.…”

Building resilience to extreme weather and climate events in the rural water and wastewater sectors

“…fostering data collection and monitoring; and facilitating information sharing. The majority of networks operate cross-level providing critical generic and specific capacity building at the local level (Eakin et al, 2014;Mullin & Kirchhoff, 2019).…”

“…Variables theorized to influence community capacity include flexible and innovative governance structures; access to relevant and usable knowledge; and human, financial, and social capacities (Adger, 2003; Lockwood et al, 2015; Pahl‐Wostl, 2009). This includes both generic capacities related to human development needs, such as health, education, and livelihood security, as well as specific capacities to anticipate and respond to environmental threats, which are supported at local, regional, and national levels (Eakin et al, 2014; Mullin & Kirchhoff, 2019). Other frameworks highlight the institutional, technical, financial, and social capacities required for effective water management (Minnes & Vodden, 2017).…”

“…Here, we define resilience as the capacity to plan for, respond to, and recover from extreme weather events (Rodina, 2018). Water and wastewater managers are building resilience through developing human and social capacities, investing in technologies, modifying standards, and assessing vulnerabilities (Mullin & Kirchhoff, 2019; Rudberg et al, 2012). Efforts to build resilience are supported by interconnected social networks of individuals, organizations and agencies, and institutions (Azhoni et al, 2017; Lienert et al, 2013).…”

Featured Collection Introduction: Climate Change Solutions

“…Using a set of five case studies from across the U.S., Marmorek et al () show Adaptive Management (a rigorous approach to learning while doing) and Climate Change Adaptation (a way to reduce risks from climate change) are mutually beneficial and supportive fields of practice. Mullin and Kirchhoff () highlight the importance of the human dimension in improving resilience in water and wastewater systems. Utilities employing adaptive management strategies and making adaptive investments over time were seen to exhibit greater resilience in dealing with storm‐related challenges to their operations.…”