Extreme climate: Investing in better infrastructure ‘highly profitable’

With the multiplication of extreme weather events, is our infrastructure strong and well-designed enough to withstand bad weather?

TVA Novelles asked an expert the question.

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“It is certain that the network is designed [la base de] Historical data. […] As these data change, we have to adapt,” said Yannick Hemond, professor of climatology in the Department of Geography at UQÀM.

He believes we should “plan for the worst and we should do it twice.”

“We must review the environment in which we are built […] Big paved parking lots are no longer of our time,” he says.

Gravel, for example, is an interesting alternative to bitumen, according to Mr Hemond.

“The more water the land absorbs, the less runoff there is going to be”, a significant problem in cities where our “sewerage network is not designed to receive so much water in such a short period of time”.

Our expert confirms that there are alternatives.

“The question is not whether it exists, not whether it exists, but the need to review the way we do things. For example, going to the lowest bidder no longer stands.”

“Yes, unfortunately it costs more so we have to invest the necessary money there” to avoid some repeated interventions as the weather conditions change.

According to the expert, investing in better, more sustainable infrastructure is “very profitable”.

“The World Economic Forum has very conservative statistics and we know that a dollar invested in prevention returns 7 dollars when it comes time to intervene or avoid certain interventions,” he explained.

“Sometimes we avoid the event, so we don’t know we’ve recovered [notre argent]”, he stated.

Regarding the already built environment, Professor Hemond suggests protecting it rather than modifying it.

Watch the full interview in the video above.