Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities
Drinking water utilities are exposed to a range of climate change hazards that can affect their ability to deliver safe drinking water. We use climate change mid-century projections to assess seven hazards for 42 786 utility systems (serving 283 million people) across the contiguous United States an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research: Climate |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/adab10 |
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| author | Zia J Lyle Jeanne M VanBriesen Constantine Samaras |
| author_facet | Zia J Lyle Jeanne M VanBriesen Constantine Samaras |
| author_sort | Zia J Lyle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Drinking water utilities are exposed to a range of climate change hazards that can affect their ability to deliver safe drinking water. We use climate change mid-century projections to assess seven hazards for 42 786 utility systems (serving 283 million people) across the contiguous United States and develop a combined climate hazard index that allows for risk comparisons. All utilities are exposed to climate hazards, and around half, serving 178 million people (53% of current population), could experience large changes in one or more climate hazards that could affect an aspect of system reliability, including water resources, infrastructure, or operations. While utilities located in Western regions and coastal areas have higher climate hazard index values, there are utilities serving different population sizes in all geographic regions with elevated climate risk. Few utilities have developed climate adaptation plans and many may have existing vulnerabilities. This index provides multiple stakeholders, including utilities, regulators, and investors, with usable and accessible climate information. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ad45f99e4a6f4ae5a4fde75dd5d1cfcf |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2752-5295 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research: Climate |
| spelling | doaj-art-ad45f99e4a6f4ae5a4fde75dd5d1cfcf2025-02-05T10:29:01ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research: Climate2752-52952025-01-014101500710.1088/2752-5295/adab10Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilitiesZia J Lyle0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6368-6765Jeanne M VanBriesen1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2631-0213Constantine Samaras2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8803-2845Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of America; Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of America; Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of America; Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of America; Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University , 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States of AmericaDrinking water utilities are exposed to a range of climate change hazards that can affect their ability to deliver safe drinking water. We use climate change mid-century projections to assess seven hazards for 42 786 utility systems (serving 283 million people) across the contiguous United States and develop a combined climate hazard index that allows for risk comparisons. All utilities are exposed to climate hazards, and around half, serving 178 million people (53% of current population), could experience large changes in one or more climate hazards that could affect an aspect of system reliability, including water resources, infrastructure, or operations. While utilities located in Western regions and coastal areas have higher climate hazard index values, there are utilities serving different population sizes in all geographic regions with elevated climate risk. Few utilities have developed climate adaptation plans and many may have existing vulnerabilities. This index provides multiple stakeholders, including utilities, regulators, and investors, with usable and accessible climate information.https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/adab10drinking waterclimate hazardsclimate risk |
| spellingShingle | Zia J Lyle Jeanne M VanBriesen Constantine Samaras Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities Environmental Research: Climate drinking water climate hazards climate risk |
| title | Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities |
| title_full | Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities |
| title_fullStr | Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities |
| title_short | Climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to United States drinking water utilities |
| title_sort | climate change hazard index reveals combined risks to united states drinking water utilities |
| topic | drinking water climate hazards climate risk |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/adab10 |
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