Assessing Climate Resiliency Climate Change and Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment How will climate change affect your critical community infrastructure?

Assessing Climate Resiliency National organization for the engineering profession in Canada Members are the 12 constituent provincial and territorial associations regulating the practice of engineering in Canada What is Engineers Canada? The national and international voice of professional engineering for Canada Facilitates common approaches among the members for professional qualifications, professional practice and ethical conduct Accredits all undergraduate engineering programs in Canada on behalf of the 12 member associations Represents over 234,000 registered professional engineers in Canada

Assessing Climate Resiliency Climate Change Impacts On Infrastructure Requires consideration of both Direct and Indirect Impacts Changes in seasonality and type of precipitation Intensity of precipitation More coastal and river flooding Sea level rise More freeze-thaw cycles Melting permafrost Direct Impacts

Assessing Climate Resiliency Climate Change Impacts On Infrastructure Requires consideration of both Direct and Indirect Impacts Changes to peak energy demand More frequent and severe water shortages Flooding Reduced service levels or product quantity/quality Critical failures Indirect Impacts

Assessing Climate Resiliency Adaptation Responses Differ and are Local There is no “one size fits all” response Needs vary between communities and regions; urban vs. rural; densely populated vs. remote, small versus large Climate change must be considered in combination with other factors; climate change cannot be considered in isolation

Assessing Climate Resiliency Small Increases Lead to Escalating Infrastructure Damage

Assessing Climate Resiliency Important Considerations Some adaptations to mitigate risk can be quite minor but important to know where your vulnerabilities lie: Sometimes just change in maintenance or procedures Sometimes additional monitoring for critical triggers (storm flows, stream flows)

Assessing Climate Resiliency The PIEVC Protocol leads practitioners through a formal, documented process to identify vulnerabilities and resiliency Applies standard risk assessment processes to this new concern How Can We Assess Vulnerability /Resiliency? One approach is the PIEVC Protocol

Assessing Climate Resiliency Quantifying the Risk Risk assessment tools and techniques help us quantify risk The PIEVC Engineering Protocol is one such tool But what do we mean by RISK?

Assessing Climate Resiliency More Concepts On Risk.. Most people have an intuitive understanding of risk but need guidance to sort out and assess the relative significance of: Likelihood Severity The protocol guides practitioners through the process of assessing both probability and severity in a structured and rigorous manner

Assessing Climate Resiliency The Importance of Local Knowledge Local knowledge, filtered through the expertise of the assessment team, can often compensate for data gaps and provide a basis for professional judgment of the vulnerability of the infrastructure. Visitors unfamiliar with spring tides experience a contingency while fishing off a point in Mozambique

Assessing Climate Resiliency Benefits of Infrastructure Climate Risk Assessment Identify nature and severity of risks to components Optimize more detailed engineering analysis Quick identification of most obvious vulnerabilities Structured, documented approach ensures consistency and accountability: due diligence Adjustments to design, operations and maintenance Application to new designs, retrofitting, rehabilitation and operations and maintenance Reviews and adjustments of codes, standards and engineering practices

Assessing Climate Resiliency The Way Forward of infrastructure is not necessarily a complex problem but the magnitude is huge Adaptation in plans to address the infrastructure deficit Incorporate Adaptation to infrastructure life cycles Tie adaptation planning as well as the knowledgeable people to use them Develop the tools

Assessing Climate Resiliency Questions and More Info David Lapp, FEC, P. Eng. Manager, Professional Practice WFEO-CEE Secretariat Engineers Canada e. For more information on Engineers Canada and PIEVC Workshop Content Development: Joel Nodelman, P. Eng. Nodelcorp Roger Rempel, P. Eng. Stantec Jeff O’Driscoll, P. Eng. Associated Engineering