Geospatial Capabilities to Couple Hazard and Social Vulnerability Data in Water Distribution Criticality Analysis

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Water Resource Management
• Geographic Information Systems

Background:

• Resilience analysis of water distribution systems is crucial for urban infrastructure management.
• Integrating geospatial data significantly enhances the accuracy and scope of resilience assessments.
• The Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR) is a key open-source package for water system simulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the updated GIS capabilities of the WNTR package for resilience analysis.
• To demonstrate the application of GIS data in identifying and prioritizing critical infrastructure for mitigation.
• To assess the impact of hazards like landslides on water distribution systems.

Main Methods:

• Incorporation of geographic information system (GIS) data into the WNTR package.
• Case study utilizing a drinking water distribution system model for a large city in Pennsylvania.
• Coupling hazard data, social vulnerability, and emergency service locations for infrastructure prioritization.

Main Results:

• Identification of critical infrastructure vulnerable to landslides and difficult repairs.
• Prioritization of pipes for mitigation based on affected water shortage and vulnerable populations.
• Demonstration of WNTR's utility in coupling diverse datasets for comprehensive resilience analysis.

Conclusions:

• The integration of GIS data and hazard information significantly improves water distribution system resilience analysis.
• WNTR provides a robust framework for prioritizing infrastructure mitigation efforts.
• The presented methods offer a transferable approach for enhancing urban water system resilience globally.