Abstract
Accelerating sea level rise in Virginia, United States, will significantly increase the flooding threat to low-lying roads, residences, and critical infrastructure as well as raise the water table, allowing saltwater intrusion into well water and threatening the function of septic fields. Although most of the adaptation work in Virginia has focused on urban economic centers, the majority of the coastline is rural and faces different threats and opportunities to address them compared to urban areas due to their reduced economic assets and their reliance on private infrastructure. In this case study, we assess the potential for geospatially quantifying impact to septic systems and adjacent water ways due to sea level rise. The case study found that the data necessary to reliably quantify these impacts on a state-wide scale are lacking and collection of that information needs to be prioritized given the potential for extensive sea level impacts.
Highlights
IntroductionAmong long-term tide gage records, Virginia has one of the highest rates of sea level rise of any station on the East Coast, making the entire coastal area vulnerable to an increasing risk of “sunny day flooding” (flooding associated with high astronomic tides, rather than storm surge) and storm flooding
Among long-term tide gage records, Virginia has one of the highest rates of sea level rise of any station on the East Coast, making the entire coastal area vulnerable to an increasing risk of “sunny day flooding” and storm flooding
The shoreline of the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States is highly vulnerable to the effects of relative sea level rise (RSLR) due to changes in global sea level combined with regional and local land subsidence (Boon, 2012; Eggleston and Pope, 2013; Campbell and Wang, 2020) and shifts in the Gulf Stream current location and speed (Ezer, 2013)
Summary
Among long-term tide gage records, Virginia has one of the highest rates of sea level rise of any station on the East Coast, making the entire coastal area vulnerable to an increasing risk of “sunny day flooding” (flooding associated with high astronomic tides, rather than storm surge) and storm flooding. Sea level is rising in Norfolk, VA at a rate of 5.1 mm/year (compared to global sea level rise rates ∼3.2 mm/year; Church and White, 2011; Ezer, 2013) and that rate is accelerating at 0.119 mm/year (Boon et al, 2018) This rate of acceleration has led to a 577% increase in flooding time in downtown Norfolk since the 1970s (Ezer and Atkinson, 2014). With these high rates of RSLR, and with evidence that those rates are accelerating (Sallenger et al, 2012; Boon and Mitchell, 2015; Boon et al, 2018), inundation is becoming an increasing concern both to ecological systems and built infrastructure. The impacts of storm-induced flooding added to long term RSLR on the natural landscape, local population, and built infrastructure are readily observable during nor’easters, hurricanes and even
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