ABOUT
UTILITY GRID VULNERABILITIES
DEPENDENCY MAGNIFIES RISK
At the time this paragraph was first drafted, Hurricane Ian made landfall on Florida’s western shore. Preliminary estimates anticipate that the likely total cost totals $63 billion dollars and more than 25 drowning deaths. This hurricane is not a vagrant, loner storm causing unique devastation: other record-breaking storms have occurred in September of 2022 alone. The entirety of Puerto Rico lost power when Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the 18th, leaving 764,000 homes and businesses in the dark as of September 26th; over 500,000 Canadians likewise lost power when the same storm hit Atlantic Canada on September 24, in what may be the “deepest low-pressure system ever recorded on Canadian soil”; the remnants of Typhoon Merbok caused high tides and winds in what ended up being “[western Alaska’s] strongest storm in more than half a century” on September 17th , formed over waters that are typically too cold to support tropical cyclones; and on September 18th, Typhoon Nanmadol killed two people and knocked out electricity to 340,000 in what was “one of the biggest storms to hit Japan in years”. Electricity wasn't the only utility affected by these events: unprecedented flooding caused sewer to run into nearby waterways, and parts of Florida still do not having working municipal water treatment centers.
HOW EFFICIENT IS THIS SYSTEM
There is an inexorable link between power failures, water/sewer flow disruptions, and weather events. 83% of all reported major outages between 2000 and 2021 were due to weather-related events; 58% of these 1,542 outages were due to severe weather such as thunderstorms, 15% were specifically due to tropical cyclones, and 22% were caused by winter weather. Even more alarming than the outages themselves is the increasing rate of failures: power outages in the 2011-2021 time frame increased 78% compared to 2000-2010. If we do not update our current systems, these numbers can only be expected to increase as the world becomes warmer and thus wetter.
A NEW WORLD NEEDS NEW IDEAS
Policy Highlights + Solutions
Effective systems are often invisible. Most people don't think about where their water, internet, or electricity come from because these services are often uninterrupted. However, as we face a combination of shortages and disruptions, it might be time for a new model that incorporates awareness. Being cognizant of our utility use and sources might be the step needed for the cultural acceptance of more resilient systems.
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The world is changing, and we must adapt how our basic needs are met. Read on for a greater understanding of the challenges that utilities face and what is being done to mitigate them.