INNOVATION September-October 2015

f ea t u r e s

ADAPTING INFRASTRUCTURE TO EXTREME WEATHER AND CHANGING CLIMATE

THE ROLE AND ENGAGEMENT OF THE ENGINEERING

PROFESSION IN CANADA

Introduction Our changing climate presents a significant risk to the performance and sustainability of engineered systems and public safety now and in the future. The need for solutions is increasingly clear. According the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, eight major climate-related incidents have resulted in billion-dollar payouts by Canadian insurers within the past 10 years. In 2013, Canadian insurance companies paid more than $2 billion for losses. Engineers, asset managers, and decision makers must address climate change adaptation as part of their primary mandate—the protection of the public interest, which includes life, health, property, economic interest, and the environment. Increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events and now well-documented changes Guy Felio, P.Eng. David Lapp, P.Eng., Engineers Canada

TOP: A storm that dropped 120 mm of rain on northern coastal and inland areas on September 7–8, 2011, destroyed the Bitter Creek Bridge along Highway 37A into Stewart, BC. PHOTO: BC MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE. BOTTOM: On February 4, 2006, a strong southeast wind, blowing 60 to 80 km/hr, generated large waves on Boundary Bay, off Delta, BC. The waves reflected off the sea wall, then superimposed on incoming waves, increasing wave-crest height. Wind-driven wave spray reached heights of about 6 m and deposited sea water on homes and adjacent roads. PHOTO: CORPORATION OF DELTA.

in climate require modifications of statistical weather patterns and data that are used for infrastructure design, operations, and maintenance. Existing civil infrastructure systems that were designed using this historical data are vulnerable to damage and failure, now and in the future, compromising public safety and the economic well- being of society. The same applies to new infrastructure if it is designed using codes and standards based on the same historical and increasingly unrepresentative climate data. The extent and rate at which the climate is changing, as well as the incidence and ferocity of future extreme weather events, remain highly uncertain, despite advances in climate science and modeling to project future change. Furthermore, the scale and resolution of climate projections remain too coarse to translate directly into design and

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