Water 2050: A vision for sustainability and resilience

The service area of the East Bay Municipal Utility District in northern California sits along the Hayward Fault line, considered to be “one of the most dangerous in the world” because an earthquake there would affect a heavily populated region.

“They estimated there would be thousands of pipeline failures for our system, and it would take up to six months for our system to fully recover,” said Shelly Dean, associate civil engineer at East Bay Municipal Utility District. “That was the big driver for our study: How do we improve this scenario significantly?”

The utility district first partnered with the University of California at Berkeley in 2021 to establish the Center for Smart Infrastructure. The center, which recently received a new infusion of financial support, tests emerging technologies that will help water districts — in northern California and beyond — improve their resilience in the wake of natural disasters like earthquakes.

“We have set up a number of different testing apparatuses to test pipelines, to put them under stresses, to bend them, to pull them apart, to create a fault rupture,” said David Katzev, manager of pipeline construction at East Bay Municipal Utility District, “because we want to put the best performing pipes in the ground as we can.”

In addition to the earthquake-resistant pipes, the district is adding flexible joints to help things flex as the ground shakes. It has also developed alternate ways to deliver water and strategies for restoring service as quickly as possible in the event of an earthquake.

“We want to … make sure that what we build is not only for current generations, but also for future generations,” said Kenichi Soga, Berkeley engineering professor and director of the Center for Smart Infrastructure.

This type of resiliency planning is a key tenet of Water 2050, which envisions a water future that thrives amidst change. The Sustainability and Resilience Strategic Implementation Team is specifically focused on mitigating emerging risks and building sustainable systems. Currently, the team is working on:

• Real-time monitoring. Advances in these technologies will help support treatment goals, enhancing public trust and furthering the application of water reuse.
• Cybersecurity. A resilient water community is one in which cyber risks are proactively and uniformly addressed.
• Net-zero community. By integrating climate impact and resiliency into financial modeling, the water community can reduce climate change impact.

To learn more about Easy Bay or Water 2050, see this webpage.