Communicating about Water & Power in Extreme Weather
Project Description
Our interdisciplinary team analyzed how communication approaches from utilities and the communities happened when they were exposed to the Winter Storm 2021 events in Texas. Our results identified resilience gaps across different dimensions (economic, environmental, governance, infrastructure, social) in both water and power utilities, and critical vulnerabilities in the communication approaches within communities.
This project was funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant: RAPID: Implications of Utilities Preparedness and Communication Strategies in Urban Populations’ Response under Extreme Weather Events, Award #2129801, and a Japan Science & Technology (JST) Grant: Resilience-based governance framework and practical models to build back better even before: Systems approach with the focus on cascading disasters.
Research Questions
This project looked at three key areas where natural disasters, people, and the built environment intersect:
- Equitable Decision-Making: We worked with utilities to see how their critical decisions, like reducing electric load to customers, ensured fair outcomes for everyone.
- Utilities’ Communications: We studied how utilities communicated during severe weather conditions and what factors caused them to change their usual alert procedures.
- Community Response: We evaluated how customers perceived the effectiveness of utilities’ preparedness recommendations and how they coped without essential services like electricity and water, especially during the pandemic.
Research Method
We talked to 93 people across Texas to understand their views on water and electric utilities, as well as community issues. Our focus was on three main groups: water utilities, electric utilities, and community members.
- Water Utilities: We interviewed 20 large public water utilities and 29 individuals through 22 detailed conversations.
- Electric Utilities: We spoke with 19 people from 14 different electric utilities, including cooperatives, municipality-owned, and investor-owned utilities.
- Community Members: We conducted 45 in-depth interviews with residents in various parts of Austin, TX.
Presentations
Strengthening Community Resilience: Connecting Online and Offline Networks
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (including TIPI researchers) explored how Texas communities responded during the 2021 winter storm.
Communicating About Hydrology
Download this presentation here.
Contact us
Find Us
2504 Whitis Ave.
CMA 5.102
Austin, TX 78712
Phone
512-471-5826
Social
Twitter: @texastipi
Facebook: @texastipi