NOAA, the EPA, and the Great Lakes Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments team (GLISA), a NOAA RISA team, recently released a report on making stormwater systems in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay areas more resilient to climate variability and change. Local governments in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay regions requested more information on how to adapt their systems to changes in climate and land use.
The report was released after various workshops conducted by NOAA, the EPA, and local community environmental leaders in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay areas. The workshops developed the most effective methods to increase preparedness to climate and land use change available for stormwater systems.
The workshops addressed four primary topic areas:
1. Methods of introducing climate change into planning by improving data collection
2. Building local capacity to mitigate climate change through investing in design and construction of green technologies
3. Identifying and communicating costs and benefits of green infrastructure by making information on green technologies more accessible to local decision makers
4. Implementation within the current government structure by navigating existing methods and regulatory designs.
The joint NOAA, EPA, and GLISA report includes information on tools, data, maps, and actions that stormwater managers and local environmental decision makers can use to incorporate climate change into their management operations. By doing so, their communities will be better prepared in the event of dramatic environmental changes due to climate and land use change.
To access the report, visit: cfpub.epa.gov
