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Dr. Zia Lyle: Climate change and rural drinking water systems

June 16, 2026

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Water systems across the U.S. are aging, and communities in rural areas with shrinking populations are struggling to fund and maintain their drinking water infrastructure. In many regions, water systems that need repairs also face climate change-related impacts from flooding, wildfires, and droughts. On June 16, 2026, SciLine interviewed Dr. Zia Lyle is a postdoctoral researcher at the at the Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

TV bundle includes:

Soundbite (SOT)
VOSOT script (can be used as-is or modified)
Raw, full-length interview video & log with timecodes (upon request via form below)

These resources are free to use. No attribution to SciLine is required.

Soundbite (SOT) and pronouncer

Downloadable video of the soundbite

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Click for VOSOT script (can be used as-is or modified)

ANCHOR
DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES ARE AGING… AND NEED REPAIRS ESTIMATED TO COST TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
AT THE SAME TIME…CLIMATE CHANGE AND EXTREME WEATHER ARE STRAINING WATER SYSTEMS MORE THAN EVER.

VO
BEFORE WATER COMES OUT OF YOUR TAP…IT TRAVELS FROM A RIVER…THROUGH PIPES… AND A PURIFICATION PLANT.
THIS SYSTEM CLEANS THE DRINKING WATER IN YOUR HOME.
DOCTOR ZIA LYLE IS A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL.
HER WORK SHOWS THAT ALL TYPES OF WATER SYSTEMS FACE CLIMATE RISKS… NO MATTER WHERE OR HOW BIG THEY ARE.

SOT
Duration: 0:29
Super: Dr. Zia Lyle, Postdoctoral researcher at UNC Chapel Hill
“It’ll be an issue for large systems, small systems, rural, urban, in the West and the Northeast. It’s really about identifying kind of the specific hazards a system’s exposed to and then its ability to respond and prepare for those. So that’s one issue that more rural smaller systems face is just having less resources, less personnel, less kind of ability to respond to changes and make kind of the needed investments in the system to become more resilient.”

VO
DOCTOR LYLE SAYS THAT FLOODS CAN OVERWHELM SYSTEMS WITH TOO MUCH WATER…MAKING PURIFICATION DIFFICULT…AND THAT WILDFIRES CAN DESTROY INFRASTRUCTURE AND LEAVE HARMFUL DEBRIS BEHIND.
SHE SAYS EDUCATING UTILITY WORKERS … AND INVESTING TO IMPROVE LOCAL WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS WHEREVER POSSIBLE…IS KEY TO ENSURING SAFE WATER FOR DECADES TO COME.

Raw, full-length interview covers:

Which U.S. drinking water systems are particularly at risk for climate-related problems;
How floods, wildfires, droughts, extreme heat, and sea level rise cause problems for community water systems;
What can happen to drinking water quality after natural hazard events;
Who is responsible for maintaining community water drinking water systems, and how these systems are funded;
What kinds of policies help rural communities maintain their drinking water infrastructure; and,
Actions people can take to make sure the drinking water in their homes is safe.