Water Utilities Get First-of-Its-Kind Climate Resilience Guide

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Sept. 16, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) and Brown and Caldwell have released a groundbreaking new resource aimed at helping water utilities across the United States design infrastructure resilient to the impacts of climate change.

According to Ashley Ebrahimi of Philadelphia Water, WUCA is proud to collaborate with its members and Brown and Caldwell to address a challenge that no single utility could manage alone.

Dr. Tess Sprague, Strategic and Resilience Lead at Brown and Caldwell, highlighted the significance of the guidance. "This is a major step forward for the water industry. For too long, there’s been a gap between understanding climate risk and knowing how to design for it. Utilities are looking for solutions. This guidance translates climate science into clear, practical design strategies engineers can use today, while also helping utilities learn from one another."

The guidance reflects real-world challenges and shared solutions from diverse geographic regions and climate conditions. It is intended to serve as a "living resource" for the entire water sector, with strategies that will continue to evolve as utilities test, refine, and expand best practices. The document addresses emerging business challenges, including the growing impact of climate risk on insurability and creditworthiness, supporting utilities in proactively strengthening resilience in their capital programs.

Karri Ving, Managing Principal in Organizational Resilience at Brown and Caldwell, emphasized the collaborative effort that went into creating the guidance. "This work reflects the power of collaboration across utilities, disciplines, and regions. By bringing together engineers, planners, operators, and climate specialists, we've created guidance that is both technically rigorous and grounded in real-world application. It enables utilities to embed resilience into everyday decision-making and ensures that every investment moves the needle forward."

The Climate-Resilient Engineering Design Guidance for the Water Sector is available as a free resource for utilities nationwide at wucaonline.org. Brown and Caldwell is incorporating the guidance into its existing BC:LongView™ approach with climate-resilient solutions and best practices to help clients address current and future environmental challenges.

WUCA, a group of 12 of the nation’s largest water providers serving over 50 million customers across the United States, aims to collaboratively advance water utility climate change adaptation. WUCA believes climate-resilient water utilities are an essential part of strong communities and strives to advance water utility climate adaptation so that communities can thrive in a changing world.

Brown and Caldwell, headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, is a full-service environmental engineering and construction services firm with 50 offices and nearly 2,400 professionals across North America and the Pacific. For more than 75 years, the company has helped municipalities, private industry, and government agencies successfully overcome their most challenging water and environmental obstacles. As an employee-owned company, Brown and Caldwell is passionate about exceeding its clients' expectations and making a difference for its employees, communities, and the environment.