Transcript No Slide Title

National Assessment the
Engineering Vulnerability of Public
Infrastructure to Climate Change:
Progress to Date and Next Steps
David Lapp, P.Eng.
Engineers Canada
Americana International Trade Show 2009
Montreal, QC • March 19, 2009
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What is Engineers Canada?
• 12 constituent members - the provincial and
territorial regulatory associations/ordre
• Over 160,000 registered professional engineers in
Canada
• Promotes high standards of engineering
education, professional qualifications and ethical
conduct
• Accredits all undergraduate engineering programs
in Canada
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Infrastructure and Climate Change
• Because of changing climates, past climate may no longer be
a good indicator of future climate
• Existing infrastructure is designed based on historical design
values, typically with conservative safety factors
• Climatic design values based on historical data will be less
and less helpful over time
• However, knowledge of the past is essential to understand
risks of future climate changes
• Shifts in extremes will increase damage and destruction of
infrastructure
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Design life-appropriate assessment
Structures
Expected Lifecycle
Houses/
Buildings
Retrofit/alterations 15-20 yrs
Demolition 50-100 yrs
Storm/Sanitary
Sewer
Base system 100 yrs
Major upgrade 50 yrs
Components 25 – 50 yrs
Dams/
Water Supply
Base system 50-100 yrs
Refurbishment 20-30 yrs
Reconstruction 50 yrs
Roads &
Bridges
Road surface 10 - 20 yrs
Bridges 50 - 100 yrs
Maintenance annually
Resurface concrete 20-25 yrs
Reconstruction 50-100 yrs
• Design life varies
• Component-based
vulnerability assessment
• Safety / economics /
technical
• There is adaptive
capacity because of
maintenance &
rehabilitation
• Conversely, poor
maintenance and lack of
rehabilitation contributes
to vulnerability
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Need for a Climate Change
Infrastructure Vulnerability Study
 Infrastructure needs to be designed, operated and maintained
in a way that minimizes the risk of destruction, disruption or
deterioration due to changing climatic conditions
 The engineering profession needs to understand climate
change and account for it in design and retrofitting of Canadian
public infrastructure
 Need to develop or revise policies, standards and tools to
guide Professional Engineers in their day-to-day practice
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Public Infrastructure Engineering
Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC)
 Oversee a national engineering assessment of the
vulnerability of public infrastructure to climate change in
Canada
 Facilitate the development of best engineering practices
that adapt to climate change impacts
 Utilize results to recommend reviews of infrastructure codes
and standards
 Partnership between Engineers Canada and Natural
Resources Canada
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PIEVC Membership
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NRCan
Transport Canada
Environment Canada
Infrastructure Canada
Public Works and
Government Services
Canada
National Research Council
Alberta Infrastructure and
Transportation
NWT Asset Management
Division
Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador
 Institute of Catastrophic
Loss Reduction
 Canadian Standards
Association
 Federation of Canadian
Municipalities
 Municipality of Portage la
Prairie
 City of Montreal
 City of Delta, BC
 City of Calgary
 Ontario Public
Infrastructure Renewal
 Ouranos
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What is Public Infrastructure?
“Those facilities, networks and assets operated for
the collective public benefit including the health,
safety, cultural or economic well-being of
Canadians, whether operated by government
and/or non-government agencies”
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Engineering Vulnerability
“The shortfall in the ability of public infrastructure to absorb the
negative effects, and benefit from the positive effects, of
changes in the climate conditions used to design and
operate infrastructure.”
Vulnerability is a function of:
 Character, magnitude and rate of change in the climatic conditions
to which infrastructure is predicted to be exposed;
 Sensitivities of infrastructure to the changes, in terms of positive or
negative consequences of changes in applicable climatic conditions;
and
 Built-in capacity of infrastructure to absorb any net negative
consequences from the predicted changes in climatic conditions.
Vulnerability assessment will, therefore, require
assessment of all three elements above.
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PIEVC Engineering Protocol
 Five step evaluation process
 Derived from standard risk management methodologies
 Tailored to climate change vulnerability
 Data quality and availability assessed throughout
 Applied to vulnerability assessment of seven infrastructure
case studies across Canada
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PIEVC Protocol Principles
 The PIEVC Protocol is a step by
step process to assess impacts of
climate change on infrastructure
 Goal:
 Assist infrastructure owners and
operators to effectively incorporate
climate change adaptation into
design, development and decisionmaking
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First National Engineering
Vulnerability Assessment of Public
Infrastructure
• Engineers Canada
– develops standards of practice
– promotes continual development of competence
– promotes engineering in Canada
• PIEVC study 2007-08
– national-scale assessment of Canada’s public infrastructure to
climate change impacts
– adaptive capacity
– potential vulnerabilities
– involved multiple levels of government and consultants
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7 Case Studies
• Water resources systems
• Storm & waste water systems
• Roads & bridges
• Buildings
Thermosyphon
Foundations
Placentia
Water Resources
Quesnell Bridge
Edmonton
Portage la Prairie
Water Treatment Plant
Vancouver
Sewerage Area
Ottawa
Buildings
Sudbury
Roads & Accessories
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Portage la Prairie - Drinking Water
Treatment Facility
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Portage la Prairie - Drinking Water
Treatment Facility
Vulnerabilities
Climate Effect
Infrastructure Component
Floods, ice jams, ice build up
Control dam structure
Floods, ice jams, ice build up, intense rain
Intake well & pump
Drought
Water source
Ice storms, hail, intense rain, tornadoes
Power supply, communications,
operations staff
Recommendations
• Improve emergency preparedness for extreme events
• Improve flood protection
• Planned infrastructure improvements to account for climate change
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Placentia NL – Water Resources
Infrastructure
Breakwater
Backside Wall
Town Hall in the Flood Plain
Main highway through Dunville
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Tropical Storm Chantal, 2007
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Placentia NL – Water Resources
Infrastructure
Tropical Storm Chantal
brought more than 200 mm
of rain to the
Placentia/Dunville area
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Placentia NL – Water Resources
Infrastructure
Key Climate Factors
Regional model downscaling
Local analysis
Sea level rise
Rainfall intensity increase
Wind speed – extremes, gusts
Rise in local groundwater table
Wind assisted storm surge
New IDF curve for Placentia
Vulnerabilities
Climate Effect
Infrastructure Component
Storm water
Culverts (100 yr design)
Increase in intense rains > increase in run off
Highway and culverts system
Sea level rise & storm surge
Breakwater; Backside wall
Sea level rise & increase in storm intensity >
Increase in ground water table
Buildings in flood plain
Recommendations
• Establish land use plan to minimize storm water run off
• Improve monitoring of flood protection structures
• Account for rise in flood plain ground water in new design
• Improve monitoring of erosion
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Sudbury – Roads & Associated
Structures
• 330 Lakes within city boundaries
• main industry is mining (nickel/copper ore)
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Sudbury – Roads & Associated
Structures
Vulnerabilities
Climate Effect
Infrastructure Component
Increased frequency of high
intensity rain
Washouts & damage of gravel road surfaces
Surcharging / flooding of drainage systems
Rising temperatures (extreme /
sustained summer)
Softening of asphalt road surfaces
Ice accretion
Functionality, operations, safety
Increased intensity / volume of
rain > ground water table rise
Embankment failure; slope stabiilty
Recommendations
• Review / revise design standards for drainage infrastructure
• Review / revise maintenance procedures for roads / sidewalks
• Improve materials / modify mix designs (asphalt, high temperature conditions)
• Perform sensitivity analyses
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Edmonton – Quesnell Bridge
Design high water level : 1915 flood
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Edmonton – Quesnell Bridge
Vulnerabilities
Climate Effect
Infrastructure Component
Flood + peak rain
Drainage system overload - serviceability
Freeze-thaw, ice accretion
Weather surface – increased deterioration
Drainage system performance
Snow volume / pattern
Snow clearing increase/decrease
Recommendations
• Design drainage system for increased peak rain
• Review monitoring / maintenance / operations procedures
• Material selection/design (e.g. based on new temperatures ranges)
• Perform sensitivity analyses
• Review / update climatic data in bridge design code
• Assess other bridges that would be sensitive to scour; slope instability; wind; softening
foundations / settlement
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Metro Vancouver – Vancouver
Sewerage Area
North Shore Mountains
Burrard Inlet
Strait of
Georgia
Fraser River
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Metro Vancouver – Vancouver
Sewerage Area
Iona Island waste
water treatment plant
• predominantly
combined
(storm/sanitary) sewers
• collection system
• mechanical system
• discharge system
• 25 – 100 yr design life
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Metro Vancouver – Vancouver
Sewerage Area
Vulnerabilities
Climate Effect
Infrastructure Component
Intense rain
Combined sewer overflows
Annual rain volume
Combined sewer overflows
Storm surge + sea level change +
subsidence
Flooding of treatment plant
Storm surge + wind/wave action
Effluent discharge; jetty structure
Recommendations
• Identify stand by power requirements
• Emergency response plan
• Determine if additional effort at sewer separation might be required
• Further assess flooding potential at wastewater treatment plant
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Ottawa - Buildings
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Ottawa - Buildings
Vulnerabilities
Climate Effect
Infrastructure Component
Rainfall / humidity
Building envelope
Freeze-thaw cycles
Deterioration of building materials, especially
roof membrane, concrete and masonry
Temperature / humidity extremes
HVAC systems ability to maintain an
acceptable indoor environment
Snow load / wind / combo changes
Structural (e.g. roof)
Recommendations
• Historical or culturally valuable buildings may need a longer time horizon
• Identify stand by power requirements
• Further assessment of buildings located on permafrost
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Water resources systems –
Vulnerabilities (general)
• Drought
– affect supply side (peakier rains, but drier dry seasons)
• Intense winds / tornadoes
– low probability of occurrence, but severe consequences
– affect access to facility
• Flooding
– dams / seawall in vicinity
• Ice storms
– affect power supplies, essential to operation
• Rising sea level + storm surge + intense rain
– affect coastal, tidal regions
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Storm water & waste water
systems – Vulnerabilities (general)
• Sudden, intense rainfall
– affect drainage system
– localized flooding
• Rainfall volume increase
– added loading on collection, treatment, discharge systems
• Drier periods
– drier soil may increase chance of pipe failures
• Ice regime, ice jams
– affect drainage systems
• Higher temperatures
– weakening of permafrost – instability of lagoons
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Roads & Bridges – Vulnerabilities
(general)
• Temperature changes
– can increase freeze-thaw patterns
• Higher winter temperatures
–
–
–
–
change/increase freeze-thaw cycles
ice roads no longer serviceable
less snow clearing
frost heave, thaw weakening
• Higher summer temperatures
– softening / rutting of asphalt road surfaces
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Roads & Bridges – Vulnerabilities
(general)
• Increased rain / intense
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flooding (incl. adjacent water bodies)
increase in soil moisture – soil weakening
slope instability
landslides
wash out of gravel roads
• Hydrological changes
– early ice break + intense rain
– undermining of bridge foundations (scour, slope failure)
– high water level / flood level for bridge design
• Sea level rise
– increase in scour at bridge piers
– bridge elevation
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Buildings – Vulnerabilities (general)
• Snow load changes
– increased volume of snow
– wetter, heavier snow – roof loads
– changing patterns – change load distribution
• Temperature change
– receding permafrost – weaken foundations
– drier soil conditions – weaken foundations
• Wind severity increase
– physical damage
– accelerated physical weathering (driving rain, particles)
• Increase in freeze-thaw cycles
• Moisture / humidity
– building envelopes
– cooling systems
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Summary of Vulnerability
Infrastructure Category
Sensitivity to Climate Change
Water treatment facilities
Sensitive - water supply issues;
operations
Wastewater treatment
facilities
Sensitive - changes in influent;
operations
Roads & Bridges
Generally robust
Site specific: Slope stability,
foundation weakness
Buildings
Generally adaptive
Site specific: foundation weakness
Coastal areas
Sensitive to sea level rise
Permafrost regions
Very sensitive to temp change
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PIEVC Update
• Progress report on National Engineering Assessment issued
in June, 2008 (www.pievc.ca)
• Seven case study reports also available
• Agreement with Natural Resources Canada for funding to
March 31, 2011 – Phase III
• Presentations on the Engineering Protocol have been given
at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change
• Discussions are underway for a pilot project through the
World Bank
• Any interested parties may use the Protocol at no charge,
but Engineers Canada retains the intellectual property rights
of the Protocol
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PIEVC Phase III Scope of Work
• Increase number of case studies (regionally and
functionally)
• Development of a national knowledge base
• Application of the Protocol in developing countries
• Add a financial module to the Protocol to assist with
“ballpark” costing
• Focused information dissemination – training and outreach
to owners/operators, practitioners, students, educators
• Workshop development and delivery
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PIEVC Case Study Process
• Owner signs license agreement with Engineers
Canada to use Protocol
• Any financial or administrative details handled
through a Memorandum of Agreement
• Operation of a project advisory committee through
the PIEVC Secretariat
• Case studies take about 6 -8 months to complete
• Cost is in the order of 60-80K depending on scope
of infrastructure being assessed
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Long Term Benefits of Engineering
Vulnerability Assessment
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Identify nature and severity of risks to infrastructure components
Optimize more detailed engineering analysis
Quick identification of most obvious vulnerabilities
Structured, documented approach ensures consistency and
accountability
Adjustments to design, operations and maintenance aspects of
infrastructure
Can be applied to new designs, retrofitting, rehabilitation and
operations and maintenance reviews
Will ultimately lead to reviews and, as necessary, adjustments of
codes, standards and engineering practices
Provides a useful tool in the hands of a professional team
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The Way Forward
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Adaptation of infrastructure is not necessarily a complex
problem but the magnitude is huge
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Incorporate adaptation in plans to address the
infrastructure deficit
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Tie adaptation planning to infrastructure life cycles
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Develop the tools and knowledgeable people to use them
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Bring impacts of changing climate into the front line
thinking of engineering projects
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Web site: www.pievc.ca
Tel.: 613-232-2474; Fax 613-230-5759
E-mail:
[email protected]
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