Here Come the Floods: As Water Levels Rise, Designers Find Sometimes Counterintuitive Solutions

Here Come the Floods
As Water Levels Rise, Designers Find Sometimes Counterintuitive Solutions
By David Zax

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4568&printview&imagesoff
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4568

A warmer world means higher seas. Global warming not only accelerates glacial melt, but also causes ocean water to expand in volume. Projections vary widely, but seas will likely rise by at least seven inches by 2100—and possibly by as much as several meters, according to NASA climate scientist James Hansen. It doesn’t take a climatologist to realize one of the immediate, pressing consequences of these figures: flooding. And since many of the world’s largest cities sit on low-lying coasts, these rising oceans could lead to many more Hurricane Katrina-level disasters.

Flooding, of course, has long been a fact of life for many coastal towns, and some old technologies still have merit. Levees, dikes, seawalls, the guiding hand of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and countless regional agencies will continue to offer flood protection. But the coming rise in sea levels also calls for new measures. “The whole water management system of our country needs an overhaul,” says George Sorvalis of the Corps Reform Network—and that includes the development and implementation of new technologies.

One idea is to build broad dikes rather than tall ones. Particularly in an area where massive developments are below sea level, the use of broad dikes—which might overtop, but never breach—could prove essential. Other small modifications could dramatically improve the utility of levees. Some engineers are proposing “smart levees,” equipped with monitoring systems that would help officials better understand how to improve and maintain levees, and when to evacuate areas usually protected by them.

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