For small-scale river flooding, contamination can be cleared in a matter of days but for a storm like Hurricane Florence, when there is large-scale flooding, it can take weeks to months. A better way to solve this problem is to build infrastructure, especially water and wastewater infrastructure, in a resilient way to withstand the climate-induced extreme weather and reduce the risk of major contamination during flooding. “We need to be thinking about advanced treatment systems that can protect us not only against the contaminants that we know are there now, but the contaminants we might anticipate from future flooding events and future contamination,” he said.