Resiliency – Planning Individually and as a Region for Tomorrow

Ray HoffmanDirector, Seattle Public Utilities

Cascade Water Alliance’s 15th Anniversary CelebrationBellevue, WAMay 15, 2014

Overview Water Supply Forum’s resiliency workSeattle Public Utilities climate resiliency programConclusions

Regional water system resiliency project 2014-2015

• Investigate water system vulnerabilities

• Identify solutions to regional risks

• Educate and communicate to build support for solutions

Water system resiliency – limit damage and recover quickly from a disturbance

• Earthquakes

• Droughts

• Water quality

• Climate change

SPU’s climate program

Urban Drainage

Water Supply

Sea Level Rise

Carbon neutrality

Regional Water BodiesCity Limits

Water TanksTankStandpipe

Water Reservoirs

Tertiary Distribution VulnerabilityLow VulnerabilityLow to Moderate VulnerabilityModerate VulnerabilityModerate to High VulnerabilityHigh Vulnerability

Secondary Backbone VulnerabilityLow VulnerabilityLow to Moderate VulnerabilityModerate VulnerabilityModerate to High VulnerabilityHigh Vulnerability

Primary Backbone Pipe DiametersLow VulnerabilityLow to Moderate VulnerabilityModerate VulnerabilityModerate to High VulnerabilityHigh Vulnerability

Legend

N

EW

S

Vulnerability ScaleGreen - failure rate < 0.05 failures/1000ftLight Blue - 0.05 < failure rate < 0.5Dark Blue - 0.5 < failure rate < 1.5Purple - 1.5 < failure rate < 2.0Red - 2.0 failures/1000ft < failure rate

Earthquake Scenario

• Estimated 1,000 pipeline failures primarily in the Duwamish Valley

• Scenario developed with Water Research Foundation

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/SPU/

All quantiles based on annual maximum series data.

City(Station) 25-yr 100-yr 25-yr 100-yr 25-yr 100-yrPhoenix, AZ (Phoenix City)

1.25 1.61 1.55 2.00 2.66 3.41

Chicago, IL (Chicago WB City 2)

1.89 2.30 2.45 3.07 5.41 7.16

Newark, NJ (Newark WSO Airport)

1.74 2.06 2.30 2.83 6.18 8.34

Columbia, SC (Columbia WSFO AP)

2.26 2.73 3.02 3.76 6.36 8.32

Chattanooga, TN (Chattanooga WSO AP) 2.01 2.53 2.68 3.49 5.96 7.35

*Seattle, WA (Sea-Tac Airport) 0.53 0.68 0.70 0.89 3.35 4.08

Precipitation (in) for Given Duration and Frequency30-min 60-min 24-hr

event Met desc. Max precip duration USGS landslide threshold

N cso % 2011 CSO events

CSO volume

% 2011 CSO volume

21 Jan FROPA 1.60” 6hrs 20% 25 10% 11,178,562 15%

09 Mar FROPA 0.21” 10min 17% 38 15% 14,051,868 19%

14 Mar FROPA 0.77” 3hrs 134% 18 7% 18,279,670 25%

23 Nov AR 3.47” 48hrs 0% 28 11% 12,066,139 17%

4 significant events

109 42% 45,576,239 76%

2011 total 261 73,086,686

Mainstream Adaptation

Incorporate climate change into decision making

Thank You