LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “For asset management, the consideration is how and when assets might be compromised in their lifecycle by climate change,” stated Robert Hicks, Senior Policy and Process Engineer City of Vancouver (November 2021)
Note to Reader:
The edition of Waterbucket eNews published on November 2, 2021 featured introduced the idea that asset management lifecycles must be considered and re-aligned with the new climate reality of longer and drier summers and warmer, wetter winters.
Climate Change Impacts are not Optional
“If we look at the variability in climate change impact scenarios that may occur within many asset lifecycles, we may get distracted by the uncertainty and statistical variance of the magnitude among the anticipated changes for key parameters that inform levels-of-service,” stated Robert Hicks. Senior Policy and Process Engineer, City of Vancouver.
“Another way to consider this variance and uncertainty is to not look at the variation of key parameters for a given future year, but rather consider the time-range that a key performance threshold might be reached. For example, climate models could indicate a change in a water supply in 2050 decreasing by 15% to 25% depending upon underlying assumptions.”
“Framing climate change impacts this way does not clearly align the changes to asset performance. But what if the scenarios are reframed with the uncertainty being the timeframe that a threshold is reached and not the uncertainty of change for a future date?”
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete story published on November 2, download a PDF copy of Living Water Smart: Adapting Asset Management to Climate Realities.