Linking Water Infrastructure, Public Health, and Sea Level Rise: Integrated Assessment of Flood Resilience in Coastal Cities

Abstract

Coastal community water infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to climate-sensitive coastal hazards. Tides, storm surges, rainfall, and salt intrusion affect infrastructure and human health. In case studies of Charleston, South Carolina, and Morehead City, North Carolina, USA, this project sought to advance risk assessment of urban water and wastewater infrastructure and identify linkages to human health impacts as risk evolves with sea level rise. The methodology integrates community infrastructure, health care, emergency resources, geospatial simulation, and a tabletop exercise with planners, emergency managers, public utilities, and health care providers. Resilience is assessed by community participants using interactive online maps, susceptibility indices, and a resilience matrix. Results highlight differential vulnerability, population susceptibility, and elevation uncertainty. We observe similar trends of increasing magnitude, frequency, and impact of flood events on water infrastructure and public health as sea level rises. Implications for tackling challenges across sectors are highlighted for improving coastal resilience.

The Role of Traditional Knowledge in Coastal Adaptation Priorities: The Pamunkey Indian Reservation

“…Part 4 assessed what resources were available and at when they might be useful. Participants completed the resilience matrix [39,44] by filling in cells with resources needed for the combined SLR influenced hazards identified in Part 1 of the survey.…”

“…Water infrastructure exacerbates the issue by over drawing ground water [32]. Climate sensitive coastal hazards include tidal flooding, storm surge, salt intrusion, and rainfall compounded by SLR [39]. Tidal areas, such as the Albemarle Sound and Chowan River have increasing algal blooms [40].…”

“…Geographic visualizations facilitate the integration of SLR projections into project planning. In a study of two coastal communities, Charleston, SC and Morehead, NC, Allen et al [39] determined that pairing maps of SLR influenced coastal flooding with the resilience matrix provides unique insights, a better introduction, and faster interaction than the specific judgements and consensus perceived to be required by participants to evaluate maps or a specific hazard scenario exclusively. This is especially pertinent to TEK holders, who are unlikely to make judgements outside their knowledge base [30].…”

Geospatial Modeling Suggests Threats from Stormy Seas to Rhode Island’s Coastal Septic Systems

“…The results of this study are intended to provide coastal New England communities, stakeholders and government officials with information to help inform resiliency planning and wastewater-related regulations over the coming decades. Other regions of the East Coast, including Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina are facing increased frequency and severity of storm events, coupled with sea-level rise, threatening wastewater treatment (Allen et al 2018;Hummel et al 2018;Little et al 2015;Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory & Economic Resources et al 2018). This phenomenon extends beyond the US East Coast (Hallegatte et al 2013;Neumann et al 2015;Woodruff et al 2013), and many other coastal communities across the globe can apply these modeling methods to assess the risks storms and flood events pose to their near-shore onsite wastewater treatment infrastructure.…”

A Conceptual Time-Varying Flood Resilience Index for Urban Areas: Munich City

“…On the contrary, the assessment of flood resilience faces many challenges, including its definition, dimensions used (e.g., social, economic, or physical aspects), and methods of quantification [11,12]. Nevertheless, there is a growing number of research projects and studies aiming at quantifying flood resilience using integrated [13] or multi-criteria [14] approaches, assessing climate variability [15] or the impact of infrastructure [16,17] while considering socioeconomic aspects [18]. Governance strategies for improving flood resilience have also been studied [19].…”