Mayors Water Council
Newsletter of the Mayors Water Council of The United States Conference of Mayors
Winter 2008
Floods and Drought: Building Community resilience
in the Face of Climate Change
By Betsy Otto, Senior Director, Healthy Waters and
Melissa Samet, Senior Director, Water Resources,
American Rivers. American Rivers is a national non-
profit that stands up for healthy rivers as valuable
assets that are vital to communities' health, safety
and quality of life.
Many American cities are already feeling the impacts of cli-
mate change. Some are experiencing severe storms and intense
flooding, and others are suffering drought and water shortages.
We know that climate change is having significant impacts on
our freshwater resources. The good news is proven, cost-effec-
tive strategies exist for communities that want to maintain their
quality of life and well-being in the face of climate change.
Better solutions for flood protection
Flooding causes billions of dollars in damage each year and
impacts of development.
threatens lives and property. Climate change is making storms
3. Stopping development in floodplains We can protect lives
and flooding more severe.
and homes, and also provide parks and natural areas for
How should communities respond? In the past, the default
recreation and wildlife, by keeping development out of harm's
solution was to build levees and floodwalls. But today profes-
way.
sional floodplain managers agree that these structures can
After the Corps of Engineers found in 1972 that losing wet-
actually make the problem worse by concentrating and accel-
lands to a Boston-area levee and dam project would cost $17
erating floodwaters. Levees can create a false sense of security
million annually in flood damages, they scrapped the project
and should be the last line of defense, not the first.
and instead created an 8,000-acre natural storage area that is
Communities around the country are already implementing
sustained by building restrictions and other protections. At $10
smarter solutions and embracing natural flood protection mea-
million, this approach cost a tenth of the levee and dam, and
sures, including:
generates local recreation and tourism dollars.
1. Protecting wetlands, forests and streamside vegetation
Wetlands and natural vegetation help absorb floodwaters
Better solutions for protecting water supplies
and buffer homes from storm surges. They also filter pollu-
tion and shelter birds and wildlife. Napa, CA's "living river"
While some communities face bigger floods, others face
project, financed by a half-cent sales tax, is restoring wetlands
drought. To deal with dwindling water supplies, some commu-
and creating a dry bypass area so that the river can overflow
nities have implemented measures to use water more efficient-
without endangering homes or businesses. Benefits include
ly. Instead of building costly new water storage dams which
an estimated $26 million in annual savings from flood dam-
may have unintended negative consequences, communities are
ages, 20 percent lower flood insurance rates, and 20 percent
turning more and more to water conservation practices. Not
higher real estate prices.
only does this stretch water supplies, but it cuts infrastructure
2. Managing stormwater naturally Rather than shunting rain
and energy bills. U.S. EPA estimates that as much as eight per-
and melting snow into sewers, causing sewage overflows, it's
cent of U.S. electricity use goes to pump, treat, and distribute
better to let run-off seep into the ground to recharge aquifers,
water, and in some states like California the figure is more than
or to be soaked up by plants. The Milwaukee Metropolitan
double that. Water conservation short-circuits the vicious cycle
Sewerage District's innovative "Greenseams" program is
of water and energy consumption.
addressing the city's serious stormwater problems by buying
and restoring over 1,400 acres of land from willing sellers
in the city and along waterways to reduce the stormwater
see AMERICAN RIVERS on page 1
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