Climate-Resilient Planning for Urban Stormwater and Wastewater Utilities

The RAND Corporation, in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) and the Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA), convened a workshop in New York City on July 16–17, 2019 to discuss the challenges of climate-resilient planning for urban stormwater and wastewater utilities. This workshop brought together leaders from 15 major metropolitan water utilities in the United States and Canada and other experts to exchange and discuss current practices, lessons learned, and new ideas for developing actionable rainfall projections and incorporating climate-informed stormwater flows into planning processes. Workshop sessions were organized around themes of regulatory and policy requirements, climate scenarios, and modeling and analyses needed to improve and integrate urban stormwater, wastewater, water quality, and flood mitigation planning. With many cities of all sizes facing similar unresolved challenges in stormwater and wastewater planning and management and in the absence of established practice and guidance, the workshop offered an opportunity to lay the groundwork for future progress on this critical issue, including gaps in the existing best practice, critical research needs, and suggested next steps.