Challenges in water and wastewater transport systems in cold regions

• The water and wastewater transport systems faces severe challenges due to climate change, resource constrain and an aging infrastructure. In cold regions the challenges are also related to general conditions societies have in common, e.g. sparsely populated, depopulation, long distances between populated areas and difficulties with recruiting right competence, beside the influence of the harsh climate on the technical system. In Sweden, municipal water services are financed by fees paid by the water utility users in a specific municipality. This means that water utilities in sparsely populated cold regions with on-going depopulation have limited economical resources to operate and maintain the transport and treatment systems for water and wastewater. The objectives of this paper are to illustrate the challenges for managing the transport system by comparing benchmark values for municipalities in cold regions with the Swedish averages, suggest possible measures to meet the challenges and give examples of on-going research in Stormwater&Sewers related to these questions.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Vattenteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Water Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

sewers

water distribution pipes

management

aging infrastructure

VA-teknik

Urban Water Engineering

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)