Sea level rise: Not just a beach risk
Delaware's ocean coast beaches aren't the most at-risk places in the state for sea level rise – at least not yet.
The reason: the millions of dollars worth of sand that have been pumped in to build up dunes, extend the sand resource and create a buffer from storms.
"It's sort of like Mount Sussex County," said state coastal programs planner Susan Love. "That's been an adaptation to sea level rise."
And that, said Love, is just one of the tools Delawareans need to think about as they prepare for the future, when storm-like flooding and worse becomes a common occurrence.
The main options: protect by building up to keep rising waters out; retreat by walking away from vulnerable areas; accommodate by elevating buildings or taking other steps to minimize damage or avoid the area all together by not building in harm's way in the first place, she said.
Love was one of four experts who spoke at a Sea Level Rise Seminar in Lewes Wednesday afternoon. The event was organized by the Surfrider Foundation, Delaware Chapter; the Inland Bays Foundation; League of Women Voters, Sussex County and The Center for the Inland Bays as part of
Sea Level Rise Awareness Week.
"Our concern is what happens in the future," said Gregg Rosner, with the local Surfriders.
More than 100 people attended the seminar at the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's field office in Lewes. Rosner said a goal is to come up with a plan of action.
Love said state officials are already planning for the future. She pointed to the St. Jones River Reserve Facility, just east of Dover, built in 2000.
"Had we known then what we know now, we probably wouldn't have built it," she said.
If sea level rises 3 to 5 feet, as some models sugges it will by the end of this century or sooner, "our road gets inundated."
She said people understand ocean coasts are at risk, but the bigger issues are with the marshes, the low-lying Port of Wilmington and neighborhoods nearby, and the thousands of homes along Delaware's Inland Bays.
"There are no easy answers to these problems," she said.
But with planning, state, county and municipal officials can avoid making matters worse, she said, and "we can do a lot to adapt to reduce our vulnerabilities."
Ram Mohan, a coastal engineer who lives in Lewes, said the projections for sea level rise are based on still waters. That means they don't factor in the additional impact from storm surge, waves or high tides to determine future high water marks. he said.
"It's not as simple as let's raise it five feet," he said.
Mohan took a closer look at what could happen at Cape Henlopen State Park under a sea level rise scenario. The park is a popular destination for natives and tourists.
In the scenario Mohan showed Wednesday, the shoreline retreats as sea level rises, but more importantly, park wetlands to the west grow wetter and wetter until they almost resemble an inland bay.
Meanwhile, Kenneth T. Kristl, an associate law professor and director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic on the Widener Delaware campus, said he has been looking at the legal tools state and local officials have to employ for adaptation.
He suggested local officials first need to decide where they want to go on the sea level rise issue, and then decide how to get there legally.
"It makes sense at a local level," he said "Think about changing laws that are impediments to implementing the strategy."
Among the legal tools available are zoning, buy-backs and acquisitions, set backs and buffers, and transferable development credits, he said.
But "we need to have a conversation," he said. "We have to make some choices and they are not easy. The conflicts arise because we have competing interests."
Contact Molly Murray at 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com.
Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj