Full Title: Electricity-Water Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies: How States Can Enhance Resilience and Reduce Risks
Author(s): Jeffrey Pillon
Publisher(s): National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO)
Publication Date: December 23, 2021
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Electricity is essential for the operation of virtually all other critical sectors, such as water, telecommunications, natural gas, transportation, and petroleum products. Further, in many cases each of these other vital sectors are critical to the generation and operation of the electric grid. During a power outage caused by a human or natural disaster, impacts are not limited to one sector, and the resulting economic and human consequences ripple across multiple sectors and impact the lives and livelihoods of not only the community affected by the disaster, but oftentimes neighboring communities and states as well.
This report explores the importance of considering interdependencies in energy security plans, broader state energy plans, and relevant resilience policies and programs. It specifically focuses on the interdependencies between the electric and water/wastewater sectors, but aspects of the report also apply more broadly across sectors that are reliant on electricity as a critical component to their operation. This report provides a foundation for State Energy Offices to understand electricity and water sector interdependencies, thus supporting energy emergency planning and preparedness and longer-term energy planning. It does not focus on other equally important and complex interdependencies among petroleum, electricity, and natural gas, for example.