A Novel Composite Resilience Indicator for Decentralized Infrastructure Systems (CRI-DS)

Abstract: Resilience is a key driver for planning adaptation strategies to mitigate risks due to both natural and anthropogenic hazards. The effectiveness of a resilience-driven decision-making strategy for adapting systems against stressors depends on how resilience is mapped to decision variables. This requires a functional resilience metric, without which it would not be possible to identify the priority needs for improvement, assess changes, or show improvement in post-adaptation resilience. In this paper, we aim to contribute to existing methodologies by proposing a novel model-based resilience assessment strategy while building on the notion of composite resilience indicators. Our proposed indicator is functional, reproducible, and is mapped to adaptation decisions. We propose a framework for integrating the developed resilience functional form into an adaptation decision-making model. To illustrate our approach, we use a case study on assessing resilience of On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems (OSTDS) exposed to risks due to sea-level rise.