Published: Reaching beyond stormwater to create resilient communities

We have invested heavily over the years in the developed world to provide systems to bring in drinking water and take away stormwater and waste. But in many of our urban areas, these systems are now outdated and designed to standards that are no longer applicable to today’s pressures. 

As a result, when failure occurs cities and towns are not as resilient to flooding and pollution as they should be, making it difficult to bounce back and recover quickly. 

Our increasingly complex and interconnected network of stormwater, wastewater and water supply faces unprecedented economic, social, geopolitical and environmental challenges. By understanding these challenges and the uncertainty surrounding them, we could create a stable and sustainable future.

The main question is; do we have the foresight, creativity and inventive capability to meet these 21st century challenges?

In this World Water: Stormwater Management article, Stantec’s Professor Chris Digman examines how the industry can learn from the past and look to different models and approaches, to plan, build and maintain resilient water, wastewater and stormwater systems.