Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID KY_2024_Byrne

Integrated Research and Education to Assess the Sustainability of a Mobile Water Treatment System for Emergency Response in Kentucky

Institute: Kentucky
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $20,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $20,000

Principal Investigators: Diana Byrne

Project Summary: The overarching goal for this work is to advance the sustainability of water supply for emergency response efforts in Kentucky, through an integrated research and education plan. To this end, this work has three specific objectives over the project year: (1) utilize life cycle costing to compare the economic sustainability of WaterStep’s WOW Cart to alternatives for emergency response in Kentucky, (2) train civil engineering students to understand potential impacts of natural disasters on infrastructure and design sustainable solutions in response, (3) develop a framework and scope for how to holistically assess sustainability (including environmental, economic, and social considerations) of water infrastructure in emergency response settings.