The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit is a website designed to help people find and use tools, information, and subject matter expertise to build climate resilience. The Toolkit offers information from all across the U.S. federal government in one easy-to-use location.
Resource Theme: Asset management
Vulnerability self-assessment tool
Conduct a drinking water or wastewater utility risk assessment:
Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool – Web Enabled (VSAT Web) 2.0 – is a user-friendly tool that can help drinking water and wastewater utilities of all sizes to conduct a risk and resilience assessment.
Flood and drought portal
The flood and drought portal is developed as part of the Flood and drought management tools project.
Data portal with freely available data for floods and drought assessments, updated in near real time!
Sewer sludge cleaning and subsequent sludge sediments recycling reuse: A case study in PR China
The treatment and disposal of sludge sediments come from sewer cleaning process is the key for carbon neutrality of the whole system. This means that the sludge sediments should be recycled and beneficial reused rather than directly incineration, landfill or even laissez-faire. nevertheless, besides the environmental impacts of carbon footprint mitigation, relevant co-conflicting issues may include engineering cost, public perception, socio-economic, rules/regulations, and managerial aspects of cleaning process. They all receive excessive consideration from government authorities and stakeholders.
SCADA: Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition
Use of supervisory, control, and data acquisition (SCADA) system for monitoring, supervision and controlling of pumping systems can help minimize energy consumption of GHG emissions. It includes measurements in real time of water levels, pressures, flows, energy consumption and other operational parameters. It also helps to adjust and control the pump station operation, contributing to fight water losses or infiltration, reduce pumping during energy peak hours and adjust pumping volumes to the needs of the system. The SCADA systems provide utility managers with access to real-time operating data and can help offset the higher operating costs by minimizing unplanned downtime and improving maintenance plans. The SCADA system can also be used to optimize pumping in real-time through advanced pump optimization software and control, or through either a model-based or knowledge-based optimization that is implemented via a rule-based system programmed into the SCADA system. This type of optimization entails the use of algorithms to determine the best pumping scheme for a given situation. This can incorporate the peak energy times previously referenced, but also a prioritization of which pumps or pumping stations are used to maximize efficiency whenever possible. For example, if only a certain volume is demanded, then the SCADA system will first operate the most efficient pumps or pumping stations to meet the demand until greater capacity or more pumps are needed.
Comparison of 4 Different Flow Control Methods Of Pumps
Based upon the system head conditions, pumps may be able to pump at higher rates than needed when operating at 100% motor speed. This flow rate can be controlled by one of two ways, throttling the pump with a valve if the pump is a constant speed pump, or changing the motor speed with a variable speed drive. The former is only energy efficient if the higher flow operating point of the pump without throttling is to the right of the best efficiency point on the pump performance curve, and the throttling results in reducing the flow to a point closer to the best efficiency point on the pump curve. Otherwise, throttling the pump can result in using more energy than at the higher flow, as well as wasting energy because you end up using more energy than is needed. When the demand on the system fluctuates significantly, the pumping rate can be controlled automatically by varying the speed of the motor with a variable frequency drive (VFD), such that the pump output matches only what is needed to meet demands or the intended pumping conditions. The pump’s flow rate then increases or decreases based upon the affinity laws and the controlled speed of the motor. This way lower pumping rates can be achieved, which may result in lower efficiency than those at full motor speed; however, the energy consumption is still lower because the energy requirements to pump lower flows at lower heads are lower.
Estudio de Caso – Perú
Planificación local, impacto global – Como las Empresas de Agua y Saneamiento del Perú enfrentan el Cambio Climático
¿Cómo asegurar la prestación de los servicios de agua y saneamiento en un contexto de cambio climático? Los Planes de Mitigación y Adaptación al Cambio Climático (PMACC) son una herramienta para abordar este desafío. Permiten identificar las principales fuentes de emisiones de carbono y los mayores riesgos asociados al clima a lo largo del ciclo urbano del agua; así como las oportunidades de las empresas prestadoras de servicios de agua y saneamiento (EPS) para impulsar un cambio positivo hacia la neutralidad y adaptación climática. Siguiendo una metodología estandarizada y con la ayuda de herramientas virtuales, el proceso de planificación es más rápido y genera un reporte para informar a los tomadores de decisión. Gracias a esta buena planificación, algunas empresas del Perú han empezado a buscar soluciones prácticas para reducir sus emisiones de carbono, como es el caso de las empresas de agua de Cusco y Ayacucho. La iniciativa PMACC fue desarrollada e implementada en colaboración entre WaCCliM (responsable de la parte de mitigación) y PROAGUA II.
Case Study – Peru
Planning locally, impacting globally – How Water and Wastewater Utilities in Peru are Facing Climate Change
How to ensure water and sanitation services delivery under a climate change context? The climate change mitigation and adaptation plans (PMACC; Planes de Mitigación y Adaptación al Cambio Climático) are tools to address this challenge. PMACC identify main carbon emissions sources and higher climate risks throughout the urban water cycle, along with water utilities’ opportunities to boost a positive change towards climate neutrality and adaptation. Following a standardised methodology and supported by web-based tools, the planning process becomes quicker and generates a report to informing decision-makers. This planning approach enabled some water utilities in Peru to start searching for practical carbon emissions reduction solutions, such as water utilities in Cusco and Ayacucho. The PMACC initiative was developed and implemented collaboratively between WaCCliM (responsible for mitigation) and PROAGUA II.
How Guanajuato’s Water and Wastewater Utilities are tackling Climate Change through Efficiency Optimization and Renewable Energy Production
In San Francisco del Rincón, two utility companies, SITRATA (Servicio de Tratamiento
y Deposición de Aguas Residuales) and SAPAF (Sistema de Agua Potable y
Alcantarillado de San Francisco), are collaborating on projects to improve their
services and lower their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. SITRATA manages
wastewater, while SAPAF is responsible for drinking water and sewage. With
guidance from the WaCCliM project, both utilities have undertaken a strategizing and
implementation process similar to that proposed in the “WaCCliM Roadmap to a Low-
Carbon Urban Water Utility”.
As a result, SAPAF have increased wastewater treatment coverage from 48% to 81%
and improved the energy efficiency of their pumping stations. The magnitude of the
increase in treatment coverage was by far the biggest achievement in GHG reduction.
How Madaba’s Water and Wastewater Utility is finding innovative Solutions to operational Burdens while reducing Carbon Emissions
In Madaba, the Miyahuna Water Company conducted a study to determine and
address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its operations. Miyahuna operates
both water and wastewater systems in the city. The GHG assessment was conducted
using the Energy Performance and Carbon Emissions Assessment and Monitoring
(ECAM) Tool. This highlighted that 90% of energy consumption is linked to the
extraction of drinking water.
In order to decrease the utility’s carbon footprint, several GHG reduction measures
were evaluated. However, some are difficult to implement due to financial constraints.
The most feasible option was the improvement of the pumping system. This would
reduce annual electricity consumption by 35–50%.