|
Case Study Series: Water Resource Strategies and Information Needs in Response to Extreme Weather/Climate Events
A case study series based on workshops in six communities that have experienced extreme events: floods, storms and derechos, sea level rise and storm surge, drought, and unseasonable frost.
The case studies highlight:
• For utility managers: lessons learned on building resilience, including useful tools and data sources.
• For policy makers and the research community: how water utilities plan, including information needs.
• For communities: opportunities for dialogue.
A final report will be available late summer 2013.
Co-sponsored by:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Environmental Protection Agency, Water Environment Research Foundation, Water Research Foundation, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, and Noblis
PRELIMINARY
Executive Summary of Lessons Learned
- Cascading Nature of Extreme Events: Instead of one dominant event, localities are dealing with multiple types and occurrences of extreme events, many of which are becoming more severe and more frequent in recent decades.
- Water Services as Critical Infrastructure: Water infrastructure is critical and must be prioritized.
- Building Resilience: Water utilities and communities must embrace both emergency response and long term preparedness strategies to increase resilience.
- Community Decision-making within a Watershed: The array of decisions within a watershed requires coordination beyond jurisdictional boundaries.
- Leadership: Communities need leadership to help navigate the path to resilience.
- Information and Tools: There is no ‘silver-bullet’ decision support tool.
- Communication and Collaboration: Communication and collaboration increases access to actionable information.
Questions or comments?
Nancy Beller-Simms, Nancy.Beller-Simms@NOAA.gov
Lauren Fillmore, Lfillmore@WERF.org
Karen Metchis, Metchis.Karen@EPA.gov
Kenan Ozekin, Kozekin@WaterRF.org
Claudio Ternieden, Terniedc@CTC.com
Erica Brown Erica.Brown@NOBLIS.org
|
Sort by:
|
Title
|
Publication Date
|
Georgia: Upper Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin
Summary: Communities in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin (ACF) in Georgia, including Gwinnett County and the city of Atlanta, faced four consecutive extreme weather events: drought of 2007-08, floods of September and winter 2009, and drought of 2011-12. These events cost taxpayers millions of dollars in damaged infrastructure, homes, and businesses and threatened water supply for ecological, agricultural, energy, and urban water users. Water utilities were faced with ensuring reliable service during and after these events. |
California: Russian River Watershed
Summary: California’s Russian River watershed has a history of variable weather, but recent events reveal an emerging pattern that is more erratic and unpredictable. The 2006 New Year’s Day flood, the 2007-2009 drought, and an unusually intense period of frosts in spring 2008 are examples of this pattern. Such cascading weather-driven events require management of both flood risk and water supply in balance with environmental needs, and they illuminate the interdependent challenges water resource managers face. |
Virginia: Tidewater Area
Summary: “Tidewater” is the eastern Virginia coastal plain where the James, Rappahannock, and York Rivers join the Chesapeake Bay. Within the lower Tidewater there are four cities (Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach), rural and small communities, military installations including the world’s largest naval station (the Norfolk Naval Base), and a large state-owned cargo port. Three metropolitan drinking water utilities and one sanitation district serve 1.7 million people. The region has many wildlife refuges and recreational beaches, alongside areas of dense development. All of this sits at an average 33 feet above sea level, posing challenges to the area’s water and wastewater utilities and to the delicate balance between fresh and salt water in the estuarine environment, especially in light of heightened storm threats. |
Washington DC: National Capital Area
Summary: Two exceptional extreme events struck the Washington metropolitan area in 2012 that provide insight into the value and cost of utility and community preparedness. With little warning, a rare derecho windstorm left a swath of wind damage in its path. Four months later and after a week of tracking and preparation, “Superstorm” Sandy devastated much of the East Coast. The Washington region was largely spared, but many lessons were learned from full-scale emergency preparation. These two events highlighted critical interdependencies between power, transportation, and water infrastructures and the need for more coordinated planning for resiliency. |
Kansas/Missouri: Lower Missouri River Basin
Summary: The Lower Missouri River (LMR) basin has long experienced extreme weather and climate events. Over the last 20 years, the basin has faced increasing frequency and severity of flood and drought. Communities endured record floods in 1993 and again in 2011. Recent droughts, including the ongoing drought of 2012/13, have ignited tension over water supplies and river flows in a region that perceives itself as having plenty of water. For utilities on the Missouri River, the issue is low water levels due to riverbed degradation, not availability of water itself. Water utilities also are struggling with the lack of sufficient water storage in the Kansas River tributary. Managing the LMR to control flash flooding, protect water quality and habitat for endangered species, as well as support the agriculture and barge-based economy, provides a challenging context. |
Texas: Central Region
Summary: Central Texas entered its third consecutive year of drought in 2013, which began in 2011 when the state endured its worst single-year drought and hottest summer in recorded history. That year, communities in Central Texas faced 90 days of triple-digit heat, during which extensive wildfires burned hundreds of homes. Heading into the 2013 summer season the reservoir system on the Lower Colorado River was at even lower levels than at that same time in 2011. For the second year in a row the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) had not released water for downstream agricultural uses that had an ‘interruptible’ standing under water rights provisions, which meant they could be curtailed. Urban users had purchased ‘firm’ water, available in a drought, resulting in the perception that there was plenty of water and creating tension with downstream agricultural users. Challenges persisted both in instituting an ethic of water conservation and in funding utility operations when selling less water. |
|
|