the Water Research Foundation (WRF) has recently funded a major research project focused on the implementation of risk management practice in international water utilities, which will be undertaken by Cranfield University.

The $300,000 project, Real-life enterprise resilience, which is being supported by a number of public utilities including the City of Calgary in Canada’s water and wastewater utility, is looking to secure water services for their citizens in the future.

Other project partners who have provided funding include SA Water (Australia), EPCOR (Canada), Seattle Public Utilities (US), EPAL (Portugal), and Water Corporation (Australia). Yorkshire Water, Northern Ireland Water, Scottish Water, UKWIR Limited, and Thames Water are UK project partners.

The project aims to develop a toolkit of resources including an interactive i-book, based on world-leading academic research, for practical use by utility managers in the field.

According to General Manager, Utilities & Environmental Protection for the City of Calgary, Rob Pritchard:

“Utility companies rely on the WRF and others to translate academic concepts into usable tools in practical formats. While there is a plethora of resilience programs and projects, even at the international level, there is no practice-led resource for water utility managers that supports a response to regulatory calls for improved resiliency. This project will address that need, and Calgary citizens will benefit as a result.”

Dr Simon Jude, Cranfield Institute for Resilient Futures and principal investigator, said:

“The desire for resilient water utilities has become an international keystone of utility governance. This project aims to close the gap between regulatory calls for greater resilience, academic thinking and practical application. This is applicable, hard science for the workers in the field and executives in the board room, with the purpose of delivering a more sustainable, resilient water supply for future generations. “

“This is the latest in a series of projects that have been developed from the technical to the managerial level and from an internal to external focus. Our work, supported by the Cranfield Water Science Institute, has looked at risk analysis tools, through to risk management culture, risk in the board, integrated risk, and now is looking at real-life enterprise resilience and practical application.”

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