Brought to you by The International Water Association

IWA Search Theme: Climate Risks

Building the Resilience of WSS Utilities to Climate Change and Other Threats : A Road Map

Water supply and sanitation (WSS) utilities are expected to become increasingly susceptible to the expected impacts of climate change. WSS utility planners and engineers have dealt with natural climate variances and disaster planning as part of the design process for many years. However, the traditional methods for these plans have not considered the deep uncertainty surrounding many future conditions, which are further exacerbated by climate change. To help utilities incorporate resilience and robustness in their choices, this road map proposes a process in three phases that can inform the design of strategies necessary to WSS services provision. The road map builds on the understanding that climate change is most often an amplifier of existing uncertainties (many of which are threats), and, as such, should not be evaluated as a stand-alone impact. The approach reveals the strengths and vulnerabilities of investment plans concisely and helps utilities invest robustly by identifying near-term, no-regret projects that can be undertaken now, while maintaining flexibility in pursuing additional actions adaptively as future conditions evolve. These results can be achieved both with a qualitative exploration and a quantitative assessment, depending on the context and the resources available.

Resilient Water Infrastructure Design Brief

The purpose of the Resilient Water Infrastructure Design Brief is to guide users on how resilience can be built into the engineering design of their project. With a focus on the three natural hazards most likely to affect water and sanitation infrastructure (droughts, floods, and high winds from storms), the document provides a six-step process to help users address weather and climate related challenges that are most likely to affect an infrastructure component at some point in its operational lifetime. In order to achieve both systems level resilience and infrastructure level resilience, this design brief should be used in tandem with other World Bank publications, such as the 2018 guidance document “Building the Resilience of WSS Utilities to Climate Change and Other Threats: A Road Map,” which emphasizes systems level resilience and analysis. The design brief highlights the relationship between these two documents and the unique function that each serves in improving overall resilience in the water sector. It also includes guidance for users to incorporate resilience design principles into projects’ appraisal documents and a sample module/task description for applying the two documents to an engineering design or feasibility study terms of reference.

Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Officer Handbook

Climate-related shocks and stresses are increasing in frequency and magnitude, causing damages to infrastructure systems and disruptions in the provision of services. Yet there is not sufficient investment needed to infrastructure systems’ climate resilience. The global urban infrastructure investment gap alone is estimated to be over US$4.5 trillion per year, with a premium of 9-27% is required to make infrastructure low carbon and climate- resilient Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are a key entry-point to mobilise private sector finance to bridge this gap and must be resilient to climate change and work to build the resilience of the communities they serve. The Climate-Resilient
Infrastructure Officer (CRIO) Handbook provides tools and guidance on how PPP practitioners can best integrate and advocate for climate-resilient infrastructure.

Evaluation of the wastewater reutilization for irrigation in high-water stress regions in Chihuahua, Mexico

This document intends to depict the existing situation in Chihuahua City, capital of the state of Chihuahua, in the northern region of Mexico, including its climate context, water situation, wastewater treatment infrastructure, and greenhouse gas emissions from this process. To achieve this goal, the methodology of this project comprises an extensive literature research on climate change, the context of Mexico, and international case studies; communication with organizations and authorities in Chihuahua that provide valuable data and information, and calculations based on literature and on the guidelines of WaCCliM.

WaCCliM – Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate Mitigation (Project Video)

Water and wastewater companies are typically energy intensive. This indicates excellent opportunities for improving energy efficiency and greatly reducing greenhouse gas emissions through more energy-efficient systems, as well as recovering energy, nutrients and other materials from wastewater.

The ‘Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate Mitigation’ (WaCCliM) project shows how the urban water sector can reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions while preparing for climate change. WaCCliM engages with the international water and climate community, with national governments and with water and wastewater utilities as well as their associations in Jordan, Mexico and Peru. Together with its national and local partners, WaCCliM is improving the carbon balance of utilities in these countries and beyond. At the same time, the project aims to ensure that utilities increase their climate resilience, reduce their operational costs, and maintain, improve and adapt their services.

Assess your utility’s carbon footprint
X Close

Assess your utility’s energy performance and GHG emissions

Assess my system