November 1, 2021
Dr. Rob Sowby, a water resources engineer at Hansen, Allen & Luce (HAL), recently published a research article about how to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on drinking water systems.
“A pandemic differs from other hazards in fundamental ways,” Sowby said. “From supply chains to staffing to water demand, water utilities have faced a number of changes associated with COVID-19, and we should learn from this experience how to make our infrastructure more resilient.”
The article lays out key questions to guide the study of these and other issues.
Sowby is also a professor of Civil and Construction Engineering at Brigham Young University. The article was co-authored with his Ph.D. student Nathan Lunstad, who is the assistant director of the Utah Division of Drinking Water. The article appeared in ASCE’s Journal of Infrastructure Systems last month.