Strategies to Keep the Taps Running, Whatever Happens
Monday, 7 February, 2022
Doctor Sarah Cotterill of the UCD School of Civil Engineering, Photo by Ste Murray.
Climate change is just one more factor making the unpredictable world of fresh water supply and demand even more uncertain. Dr Sarah Cotterill is interested in finding ways of ensuring continuity of supply when, not if, water systems fail. Despite everyone’s best efforts this will happen, she says, possibly resulting from two or more things occurring at the same time or in swift succession. “That’s where resilience comes into play.” The arrival of just such an event, the COVID pandemic, provided her and a team of researchers from Ireland and the UK with the opportunity to examine how well existing water company risk management strategies performed in response to the challenges presented by a high impact, unpredictable threat. This information is of immense value in helping the water industry and policymakers devise better, more adaptable, approaches to risk management in an increasingly uncertain world.
“Every year water companies prepare for potential threats and make new drought and water resource management plans.”
You can read the full case study here:Strategies to Keep the Taps Running, Whatever Happens