Infrastructure

Navigating Uncharted Waters: ASU Drives Solutions for Water Resilience
The Southwest has grappled with an ongoing megadrought since 2000, the driest period in the last 1,200 years. In a place already known for extreme heat and an arid climate, a secure water supply is especially crucial in order for humanity to thrive.
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The Fate of Thousands of U.S. Dams Hangs in the Balance, Leaving Rural Communities with Hard Choices
Dams across the country are aging and facing intensifying floods wrought by climate change. But the price tag to fix what’s broken is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
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Coastal Cities Have a Hidden Vulnerability to Storm-Surge and Tidal Flooding − Entirely Caused by Humans
Today, 80% to 90% of estuaries – areas where rivers meet the sea – such as New York Harbor, San Francisco Bay and Miami’s Biscayne Bay has been built over. The result has been the loss of buffer zones that helped protect cities from storm surge and sea-level rise. And below the surface of many of the remaining waterways, another form of urbanization has been slowly increasing the vulnerability of coastlines to extreme storms and sea-level rise.
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Efforts to Build Wildfire Resilience Are Heating Up
Stanford’s campus has become a living lab for testing innovative fire management techniques, from AI-powered environmental sensors to a firebreak-creating “BurnBot.”
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Hurricane Helene Brought Devastation — and an Opportunity — to Appalachia’s Power Grids
As recovery efforts continue, utilities in the region need to rethink their approach to electricity in the face of climate change.
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Reducing Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise in Virginia
As the climate changes and sea levels rise, there is concern that sinking coastlines could exacerbate risks to infrastructure, as well as human and environmental health in coastal communities. The Virginia Coastal Plain is one of the fastest-sinking regions on the East Coast.
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Why Fracking Matters in the 2024 U.S. Election
The fracking boom has transformed the United States into the world’s leading producer of oil and gas. With presidential candidates Harris and Trump clashing on climate and energy policy, the practice is once again in the spotlight.
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Is Tampa Prepared for the Devastating Impact of Hurricane Milton?
As Hurricane Milton barrels toward central Florida, disaster recovery experts say residents should expect extensive destruction from the storm and its surge — particularly if Tampa is hit directly.
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Subsea Communications Cables: Vital but Vulnerable
Ensuring the resilience of the submarine cable network against disruptions is crucial. Lying deep on the ocean floor, these fiber-optic cables can transmit massive amounts of data at high speeds with low latency, making them far more efficient than satellites, which handle only a fraction of global data transmission.
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Counties Call for Rural Groundwater Management Despite Some Voters Rejecting It
Four rural Arizona county supervisors are asking for more regulation when it comes to pumping rural groundwater, something that their constituents denied them in 2022.
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Deflecting Doom: How Sandia Research Could Save Earth from Asteroids
The most efficient way to prevent potentially dangerous asteroids from damaging or even obliterating Earth may involve a coordinated nuclear response to deflect the menacing asteroid. Free-floating experiments at Sandia provide deflection data.
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Where Flood Policy Helps Most — and Where It Could Do More
A U.S. program provides important flood insurance relief, but it’s used more in communities with greater means to protect themselves.
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In Storms Like Hurricane Helene, Flooded Industrial Sites and Toxic Chemical Releases Are a Silent and Growing Threat
Hundreds of industrial facilities with toxic pollutants were in Hurricane Helene’s path as the powerful storm flooded communities across the Southeast in late September 2024. In disasters like these, the industrial damage can unfold over days, and residents may not hear about releases of toxic chemicals into water or the air until days or weeks later, if they find out at all.
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Plan to Reopen Three Mile Island Plant Could e ‘Rebirth’ of Nuclear Energy: Experts
The 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant became a cautionary tale for a generation of Americans. But experts say a plan to reopen the plant shows opinions are changing regarding nuclear power and its role in a clean energy future.
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The U.S. Is Finally Curbing Floodplain Development, New Research Shows
Over the past century, the United States has built millions of homes along coastlines and rivers, developing on land that is all but destined to flood. At the same time that the warming of the planet has raised sea levels and increased rainfall, annual flood damages have surged in recent decades in large part because more homes are in flood-prone areas now than ever before.
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