Huron County is considering completing a risk assessment of county infrastructure as part of its Climate Change Adaptation Plan.
Climate Change and Energy Specialist, Derry Wallis, says it would be used to help them determine the impact climate change could have on any county infrastructure now and in the future.
“Climate Risk Assessments can be done on any type of infrastructure but due to predicted increases in precipitation and the unpredictability of extreme weather events in the future, we thought our bridges and culverts may be more at risk currently," said Wallis. “So this, ideally, is taking into consideration those projected future climate changes that we're expected to see in our yearly weather patterns. Currently looking at future projections is actually more realistic for what we can expect than looking at past trends in climate.”
Wallis is quick to add, nothing is carved in stone, but right now looking at future projections is likely to be more accurate than past events. Wallis also says buildings are not being considered in the current plan, but she says once they have the new data entered into their Asset Management Plan and see how that impacts their replacement and maintenance strategies, they might consider buildings. She says they are considering climate risks for any new builds now.
