Toward Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems: Framing the Challenges Workshop Committee, National Research Council
"Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives"
National Academies Press | English | 2009-07-06 | ISBN: 0309137926 | 82 pages | PDF | 1,1 MB




For the people of the United States, the 20th century was one ofunprecedented population growth, economic development, and improvedquality of life. The critical infrastructure systems-water, wastewater,power, transportation, and telecommunications-built in the 20th centuryhave become so much a part of modern life that they are taken forgranted. By 2030, 60 million more Americans will expect these systemsto deliver essential services.

Large segments and components of the nation's critical infrastructuresystems are now 50 to 100 years old, and their performance andcondition are deteriorating. Improvements are clearly necessary.However, approaching infrastructure renewal by continuing to use thesame processes, practices, technologies, and materials that weredeveloped in the 20th century will likely yield the same results:increasing instances of service disruptions, higher operating andrepair costs, and the possibility of catastrophic, cascading failures.If the nation is to meet some of the important challenges of the 21stcentury, a new paradigm for the renewal of critical infrastructuresystems is needed.

This book discusses the essential components of this new paradigm, andoutlines a framework to ensure that ongoing activities, knowledge, andtechnologies can be aligned and leveraged to help meet multiplenational objectives.