Speaker: Emma Wells, EVEN PhD Candidate, Linden & Javernick-Will groups

Topic: A Socio-Technical Systems Approach to Manage Risk at Drinking Water Utilities

Bio: Water utilities in North America face mounting pressures—deteriorating infrastructure, staffing shortages, evolving regulations, and changing source water quality—all while maintaining their core mission of delivering safe water. Managing these complex, interconnected risks has led utilities down different paths: some have adopted formal risk management systems like Water Safety Plans, while others rely on individual practices such as source protection and standard operating procedures. How do these different approaches play out in practice across different regulatory and organizational contexts? In this presentation we will share findings from our research on risk management in Canadian utilities, where several provinces have distinct risk management regulations. First, we will discuss our findings on metrics of successful risk management. Next I will share our analysis of how multiple factors interact to influence risk management effectiveness in different utility contexts and how these findings can be used to strengthen utility risk management.