BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network

This project is specifically intended to support the Climate Change Strategic Initiative objective of providing water utilities with a set of tools to identify and assess their vulnerabilities, and develop effective adaptation strategies. The research objectives include:
• Identify, in the major federal legislation and regulations governing water utilities, including the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and other environmental legislation like the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act, areas in which compliance with existing regulation reduces a water utility’s ability to cost-effectively adapt to climate change and reduce their carbon footprint.
• Develop a better understanding of the energy use and carbon footprint impacts from advanced treatment technologies (UV, ozone, membranes, etc.) used by utilities for compliance with drinking water regulations.
• Identify opportunities for regulatory flexibility or change to allow water utilities to balance multiple, potentially conflicting goals and to better meet complex challenges for optimizing treatment and cost with reduced greenhouse gas emission.