Raising awareness about rising tides

By Skip Stiles

A friend of mine says he can tell when a really high tide is coming by the number of cars parked on his street. His waterfront neighbors regularly check the tide charts, and when rising waters are predicted, they move their cars landward a block or two to avoid having to slosh out to them in the morning.

Another friend of mine went out this spring to reclaim his long neglected garden along the Lafayette River, expecting to find it overgrown with grass.

It was overgrown with grass, but upon closer examination he found it had been invaded by marsh grass moving inland with the tide line.

Work crews at Naval Station Norfolk for decades have used small boats to service plumbing and electric lines hung underneath the piers. Now they can work under the piers only at low tide, one of a number of sea level rise compromises to operational readiness causing the Navy to spend hundreds of millions of dollars replacing the piers.

In my travels across the tidal stretches of Virginia, talking about sea level rise at Rotary and Kiwanis Club meetings, civic leagues and community gatherings, people volunteer similar observations. The shoreline is shifting. Flooding is worse. Hurricane insurance coverage is harder to get and more expensive when you find it.

A picture of change is emerging, change you can measure. The tide gauge at Sewells Point in Norfolk shows a 14-1/2-inch increase in sea level since it was installed in 1928.

If you're not from around here, that may not sound like much. If you've had to alter your commute, spend more for insurance or adjust the way you do your work, the change we've seen is troubling.

You can argue about the source of the change, but you can't dismiss the impact. Nobody knowingly builds an impassable road or an unserviceable pier. Change is under way, and we need to do something smart and strategic - and soon - about sea level rise in Hampton Roads.

The first steps along this path involve a public discussion about how our lives are affected by sea level rise and storm surges riding on top of higher seas. What adjustments has this necessitated? What complications has this caused?

We need to study the impact and develop solutions that will allow us to adapt in a changing region. Then, armed with facts and plans, we need to start dealing with the challenges we face.

This process will start this week with the first set of "listening sessions" on sea level rise held in Virginia Beach.

The work is a collaboration among the University of Virginia's Institute for Environmental Negotiation, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, Old Dominion University, the city of Virginia Beach, the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center and Wetlands Watch.

Wednesday and Thursday, at four public sessions, we'll hear from citizens about their experiences with sea level rise and flooding.

This information will be summarized and presented to the Virginia Beach City Council next month. The information also will help shape the next steps in this region.

Virginia Beach is a pioneer in dealing with sea level rise, having included policy options for addressing this issue in its comprehensive land use plan. It is moving ahead with a sustainability plan for the city, a process that these listening sessions will inform.

Across the region there is more activity. Chesapeake has a sustainability initiative under way. Its floodplain management plan will include sea level rise, as does Portsmouth's, Poquoson's and Gloucester County's.

Norfolk has an inundation study coming out. Hampton is developing a comprehensive waterways management plan that will include inundation risks and sea level rise.

The HRPDC has a climate change impact study that will be coming out later this year and is revising the region's emergency management plan with sea level rise included.

All of this activity requires public support and public discussions about the problem of flooding and sea level rise. This week's meetings will start that process.

Skip Stiles is executive director of Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk-based nonprofit. Email: skip.stiles@wetlandswatch.org. Information on the listening sessions can be found at http://www.virginia.edu/ien/sealevelrise