NOAA's Ark: Designing Water Resilient Projects for Our Climate Future
NOAA's Ark: Designing Water Resilient Projects for Our Climate Future
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said "water is the primary medium through which we will experience climate change." In light of the catastrophic flooding and droughts that many regions of the world have experienced in 2022-2023 - years that are a glimpse of our climate future - we must challenge ourselves to confront the increased likelihood of extreme weather events and diminished water resilience that our projects now face. Resilience can only be achieved if we embrace the reality of new weather patterns and adjust both design and regulatory strategies accordingly to build for the future rather than the past.
While these drought and flooding challenges may seem like they require disparate solutions, we will emphasize that the best way to face these challenges is to recognize them as "One Water" challenge; a many-headed hydra. Speakers will delve into the critical intersections between water, resilience, decarbonization, and preservation to emphasize that this is an all-hands-on-deck challenge which extends beyond the boundaries of our project sites and across their broader watersheds.
This presentation brings together perspectives of architecture, civil engineering, and MEP engineering to bring a holistic, integrated team approach to solving for future water performance and resilience, leveraging future-looking climate models, whole-building water mapping (LEED WEpc115 Whole Project Water Use Reduction ACP), tried-and-true water savings strategies, and an innovative approach to linking building electrification and decarbonization to make projects resilient to both drought and deluge. Slaying the "One Water" hydra requires an integrated "One Team" herculean effort.