Policies enabling resilience in Seattle's water services

Laura M Inha; Jarmo J Hukka

doi:10.6092/issn.2612-0496/8688

Authors

Laura M Inha Tampere University, Civil Engineering, Finland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2030-2922
Inha is a doctoral student in Tampere University, Finland researching policies for resilient water services in developing and developed countries, and in rural and urban settings. For her degree, she spent a year as a Valle Foundation visiting scholar in the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. Inha has a master’s degree in civil engineering majoring in water and environmental engineering. She has gained seven and a half years of work experience in stormwater management consulting in Finland, and in international development in the Global Water Practice, World Bank, concentrating on water security, groundwater management, and sanitation issues mainly in India.
Jarmo J Hukka Tampere University, Civil Engineering, Finland http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8500-4056
Dr. Jarmo J. Hukka is an adjunct professor at Tampere University in Tampere, Finland. He has 42 years of professional experience. His research interests include water services policy, governance and management, sector reforms, privatization, services pricing, asset management, critical infrastructure protection and resilience. Dr. Hukka has authored 180 publications. He has also worked 12 years for overseas projects in the Cayman Islands, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Kosovo, and for the African Development Bank in Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2612-0496/8688

Keywords:

water supply, wastewater, stormwater, water services management, water resilience

Abstract

The combined impact of diverse transitions, such as climate change, population growth, rapid urbanization and ageing infrastructure are expected to affect the quantity, quality, accessibility and affordability of water globally. Water demand and competition for water are likely to increase. Addressing these changes and hazards requires societies to be resilient, i.e. flexible and adaptive instead of only resistant. Seattle, Washington USA, has a long history of sustainable development and adaptation to changes and hazards such as population growth, water pollution, droughts and floods. Based on a literature review and semi-structured interviews among twelve selected local water professionals, this paper a) defines development steps and policies that have led to the current situation; b) explores key policies that are important to the resilience of Seattle’s water services; and c) examines challenges in and recommendations for improving resilience in the future. The results reveal the importance of specific policies and practices in enabling resilience for each water service: water supply, wastewater and stormwater. They also reveal governance levels where resilience is most powerfully implemented. The paper concludes that policies that were found to build and improve the resilience of Seattle’s water services are diverse and most effective when implemented at a local level. In advancing resilience, it is important to acknowledge also informal rules, including mindsets and habits.

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Policies enabling resilience in Seattle's water services

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