Optimizing the Structure and Scale of Urban Water Infrastructure

In March 2014, the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread partnered with the Water Environment Federation and the Patel College of Global Sustainability at the University of South Florida to convene a diverse group of experts to examine the potential for distributed water infrastructure systems to be integrated with or substituted for more traditional water infrastructure, with a focus on right-sizing the structure and scale of systems and services to optimize water, energy and sanitation management while achieving long-term sustainability and resilience.

The participants who gathered at Wingspread – including representatives from utilities, industry, nonprofit organizations, architecture firms, academia and government – noted a growing receptiveness among water and wastewater utilities to consider distributed infrastructure solutions, and agreed that these solutions will play a significant role in the future of U.S. water infrastructure and will bolster efforts to create resilient, sustainable and water-secure urban communities.

The results of this gathering have come together in a new report titled Optimizing the Structure and Scale of Urban Water Infrastructure: Integrating Distributed Systems.