Dimensions of Wastewater System Recovery Following Major Disruptions

Abstract

Following a major disaster or disruption, the restoration of infrastructure function is often tracked over time. For a more detailed understanding of the recovery process, this paper separates wastewater recovery into multiple service categories. Each service category is further defined by three distinct levels of service: normal, restricted, and no service provision. This proposed format of tracking system recovery allows the functionality to be defined in more detail than commonly presented metrics in the literature while still being conducive to data collection in the immediate recovery following major disruptions. The proposed methodology is applied to the February 22, 2011 Christchurch (New Zealand) earthquake wastewater system recovery. Through this case study, the complexity of wastewater system recovery is evinced along with the future potential for using the suggested breakdown of service and associated metrics. Future application is not restricted to postevent analyses, but also in guiding system recovery during actual events and in planning studies to assess the effectiveness of various redundancies and restoration strategies.