At the recent National Hydraulic Engineering Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, IRIS Director Brian Bledsoe presented the keynote address.
His takeaways as some of the most pressing needs:
-Our goal should be to view infrastructure systemically and understand its processes in time
-When designing new infrastructure, we need to take an iterative, multi-hazard approach
-We need to make sure that we are transparent about the uncertainty in hydraulic estimates, so that planners can ensure that wise decisions are made for the long haul
-We need to use improved tools and technologies judiciously
-We must close the communications loop (e.g. the gap between design and maintenance), learn by doing, and use the principles of adaptive management
-We need to jump-start resilience with immediate actions
Check out the conference here.