Open AccessWinter Storm Uri: A Test of Texas’ Water Infrastructure and Water Resource Resilience to Extreme Winter Weather Events
Author(s) -
Yael R. Glazer,
Darrel M. Tremaine,
Jay L. Banner,
Margaret Cook,
Robert E. Mace,
John W. NielsenGammon,
Emily Grubert,
Ken Kramer,
Anne M. K. Stoner,
Briana M. Wyatt,
Alex Mayer,
Timothy Beach,
Rachel M. Correll,
Michael E. Webber
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of extreme events
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2382-6339
pISSN - 2345-7376
DOI - 10.1142/s2345737621500226
Subject(s) - extreme weather , resilience (materials science) , community resilience , preparedness , storm , critical infrastructure , environmental resource management , government (linguistics) , climate change , emergency management , psychological resilience , environmental science , environmental planning , business , resource (disambiguation) , geography , political science , meteorology , computer science , psychology , ecology , computer network , linguistics , philosophy , physics , law , biology , thermodynamics , psychotherapist
We synthesize the interconnected impacts of Texas’ water and energy resources and infrastructure including the cascading effects due to Winter Storm Uri. The government’s preparedness, communication, policies, and response as well as storm impacts on vulnerable communities are evaluated using available information and data. Where knowledge gaps exist, we propose potential research to elucidate health, environmental, policy, and economic impacts of the extreme weather event. We expect that recommendations made here — while specific to the situation and outcomes of Winter Storm Uri — will increase Texas’ resilience to other extreme weather events not discussed in this paper. We found that out of 14 million residents who were on boil water notices, those who were served by very small water systems went, on average, a minimum of three days longer without potable water. Available county-level data do not indicate vulnerable communities went longer periods of time without power or water during the event. More resolved data are required to understand who was most heavily impacted at the community or neighborhood level. Gaps in government communication, response, and policy are discussed, including issues with identifying — and securing power to — critical infrastructure and the fact that the state’s Emergency Alert System was not used consistently to update Texans during the crisis. Finally, research recommendations are made to bolster weaknesses discovered during and after the storm including (1) reliable communication strategies, (2) reducing disproportionate impacts to vulnerable communities, (3) human health impacts, (4) increasing water infrastructure resilience, and (5) how climate change could impact infrastructure resilience into the future.