Resilience of critical infrastructure to natural hazards: A review focused on drinking water systems

Abstract

Many countries face increasing challenges related to risks to natural hazards. In order to address this situation, countries and communities have developed strategies to reduce risk levels of critical infrastructure systems and, therefore, improve their resilience. Among critical infrastructure systems, the production and distribution of drinking water is essential to ensure the recovery of society. Despite the importance of evaluating the resilience of critical infrastructures, in general, and drinking water systems, in particular, there is no universal definition or methodology for this. The present study conducted a comprehensive literature review regarding the concept and methodologies to evaluate the resilience of critical infrastructures, with special emphasis on drinking water systems. Based on this review, a definition of resilient drinking water system is proposed. Moreover, it has been evidenced that the evaluation of resilience should not only consider the technical dimension, but also the environmental, organizational, social and economic dimensions.