Infrastructure Resilience

Protecting & Strengthening Essential Infrastructure & the Communities It Serves

Communities rely on critical infrastructure to function during and after disruptive events, whether caused by natural hazards like wildfires, flooding and earthquakes, or other hazards, such as ransomware attacks. Risk and resilience planning helps utilities understand where vulnerabilities exist, how failures could affect service and recovery, and how strategic investments can reduce long-term impacts on people and the environment.

RH2 professionals partner with public agencies and utilities to evaluate their infrastructure’s expected performance, identify key resilience improvements, and help plan and schedule upgrades that most effectively and economically strengthen systems over time. Our work supports public safety, protects essential services, and helps communities recover more quickly, making resilience planning valuable and deeply meaningful.

All Services

Planning for Risk, Reliability & Recovery

Effective resilience planning starts with understanding how components and systems are likely to perform under stress. RH2 works with clients to identify critical assets and their vulnerabilities, evaluating how disruptions could affect operations, service continuity, and recovery timelines.

Our risk and resilience planning services support:

Identification of critical facilities and backbone infrastructure.
Evaluation of system vulnerabilities and failure consequences.
Development of realistic levels of service and recovery goals.
Prioritization of improvements based on risk, cost, and operational impact.

This approach helps clients move from broad concern about risk to clear, actionable improvements and strategies that align with budgets and long-term planning efforts.

Structural Performance & System Assessments

Understanding how existing individual facilities and systems are expected to perform during a disruptive event is essential to informed decision-making and is evaluated collaboratively over a wide range of disciplines. RH2’s in-house structural, civil, and mechanical engineers assess the expected performance of reservoirs, pump stations, treatment facilities, pipelines, wells, and other facilities. Our electrical and controls engineers evaluate backup power and emergency operations capabilities. Our in-house geotechnical engineers assess soils-related hazards, such as landslides and potential effects on wells.

Our assessments allow utilities to objectively weigh risk reduction against the cost of improvements or countermeasures. The assessment outcomes are in cost/benefit format, which is the same format used by FEMA for selection of projects for funding opportunities, making it easier for utilities to apply for grants and low-interest loans, and informing phased implementation strategies in capital improvement plans.

Resilient Design & Targeted Retrofits

When improvements are needed, or when the expected level of performance of aging facilities is unknown, RH2 provides design, analysis and retrofit services focused on strengthening infrastructure while maintaining constructability and operational continuity. Our professionals integrate resilience considerations into both new facilities and upgrades to existing assets.

Design and retrofit services may include:

Seismic and hazard-resilient design for facilities and structures.
Targeted retrofits for pipelines, tanks, and mechanical systems.
Geotechnical and operational considerations.
Integration of resilience goals into broader capital programs.

Rather than one-size-fits-all solutions, designs are tailored to each system’s unique assets and risks, helping them prioritize projects most wisely to address operational needs and long-term performance goals.

Thinking about Joining Our Team?

Risk and resilience work at RH2 offers the opportunity to help communities prepare for uncertainty and recover more quickly when disruptions occur. Team members collaborate across disciplines to evaluate real-world systems, identify practical improvements with the greatest benefit/cost ratios, and design improvements that protect essential services.

For those interested in problem-solving, systems thinking, and work that supports public safety and long-term community resilience, this service area provides meaningful exposure to planning, assessment, and design decisions that have lasting impact.