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Blue background with white text and splash graphics says "beyond barriers to implementation: A water sector perspective on seal level rise adaptation"

As the atmosphere warms due to climate change, there is a direct impact on the hydrologic cycle, thus creating unique challenges for the water sector. The effects of sea level rise and other associated coastal changes (e.g., storm surge, erosion, and flooding) have already had a wide range of impacts on coastal communities, and climate change will only exacerbate these challenges in the future. The hardships brought on by climate change are forcing a paradigm shift for decision-making in the water sector as practitioners seek to implement options to avoid, minimize, mitigate, and/or recover from the effects of these climate-driven impacts—an effort collectively known as adaptation.

This guide is intended to provide tangible, replicable practices to help water1 utility staff and water resource managers advance adaptation efforts in the face of climate change. Sea level rise adaptation is context-specific (e.g., by location, by asset, and by system), and while there is no one-size-fits-all approach to adaptation, there are principles—or leading practices—that may help water sector practitioners move towards on-the-ground implementation.

In this guide, implementation is defined as the process of making something active or effective that advances adaptation to sea level rise in a concrete way.

This implies progress beyond understanding and assessing risk to executing policies (e.g., updated design standards), projects (e.g., building a desalination plant), process changes, or programs that proactively take action to boost resilience to climate impacts in the coastal zone (e.g., capacity building).

It is important to distinguish the difference between adaptation constraints or barriers and adaptation limits. Barriers include challenges or obstacles that slow or halt progress on adaptation but that can be overcome with a concerted effort. Alternatively, a limit is something that cannot, without unreasonable action or expense, be overcome (CoastAdapt 2017; Klein et al. 2014). An example of an adaptation limit would be the lack of physical space in a dense urban environment to create a nature-based solution, such as wetlands, as a coastal defense to sea level rise and storm surge. An example of an adaptation barrier is a lack of political will from organizational leaders.

There are many barriers that prevent adaptation implementation. The most frequently cited adaptation barriers include governance, financial, technical, and social/cultural barriers. These barriers, and suggested strategies to overcome them, are used to frame the content of this guide.

This guide is the outcome of a multi-year Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) project designed to identify leading practices—recognizing that in this emerging dynamic field, "best practices" have yet to be established—to overcome these barriers. Tangible, real-world examples are provided when possible and help identify opportunities for the advancement of sea level rise adaptation measures.

Identifying Leading Practices

Expertise on adaptation options, common barriers to implementation, and opportunities for advancing action was solicited via a scientific and gray (e.g., white papers, agency reports and plans) literature review, semi-structured interviews, a practitioner's forum with over 60 resilience leaders from around the U.S., and from the summation of the lived experience of the following WUCA Sea Level Rise Committee members: Philadelphia Water Department, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Tampa Bay Water, San Diego County Water Authority, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Seattle Public Utilities.

Leading Practices in Climate Adaptation, published in 2021 by WUCA in collaboration with the Aspen Global Change Institute, identifies a series of overarching leading practices for climate change adaptation in the water sector. The report was developed through the first-hand experience of WUCA members, and the information is organized under five action areas: Engage, Understand, Plan, Implement, and Sustain. Adaptation action areas and the associated leading practices are presented in the form of a wheel, which illustrates their inherent interconnectedness. While there may be some linearity in the process (e.g., understanding, planning, and prioritizing of adaptation options leads to implementation), engagement with these adaptation action areas can happen at any stage.

This guide builds upon the success of that body of work and uses a similar format but focuses on one climate impact, sea level rise. Resources are provided for all adaptation action areas, but this document takes a close look at the implement phase and seeks to answer the question: What barriers are preventing the water sector from advancing past the vulnerability/risk assessment phase to actually implementing projects or policies that build resilience, and how can those barriers be overcome?

Graphic shows that the information from this document came from literature reviews, interviews, practitioners' forum and WUCA

How to use this Guide

Water utilities and wholesale water providers do not function in a silo, and adaptation processes—from engagement to monitoring and evaluation of implemented strategies—must be coordinated with other municipal sectors and landowners, local organizations, tribal nations, community members, regional planning bodies, regulators, and all levels of government. Acknowledging this necessary coordination, this guide was developed with input from stakeholders in multiple sectors. Likewise, many of the leading practices and tools may be applicable beyond the water sector. However, leading practices particularly relevant to this field were chosen for inclusion, and it was developed from the water sector perspective with that audience in mind. It is meant to help other water utilities and resource managers begin implementing actions to adapt to sea level rise.

This guide does:

  • Provide a high-level overview of the general steps required to initiate sea level rise adaptation and includes resources and tools to support each step
  • Detail the most frequent challenges encountered when reaching the point of implementation
  • Suggest solutions based on leading practices for overcoming barriers, using real-life examples when possible

This guide does not:

  • Provide a detailed roadmap with all the necessary steps to achieve sea level rise adaptation
  • Provide a deep dive into the technical aspects of sea level rise, such as the science behind projections, working with tide level data, or risk assessment methods
  • Examine every aspect of how sea level rise and related issues may potentially affect your water utility or your geographic location
  • Provide a step-by-step adaptation plan and strategy for specific utility assets or system types

Guide structure

This guide is organized as follows:

  • Sea Level Rise Impacts on the Water Sector – this section provides useful context for the rest of the document.
  • Barriers to Adaptation in the Water Sector – this section is organized by governance, technical, financial, and social/cultural adaptation barriers. Each barrier section provides a summary of the challenges, followed by leading practices to address them. Specific leading practices are identified and supported by targeted solutions using real-world examples. While each leading practice responds to one specific barrier, there are often case studies or practices that could apply as a solution to overcome multiple barriers.
  • Final Remarks – this section summarizes the key findings that emerged while developing this report.
  • Appendices(Opens PDF document)(Opens new window) – this section includes an extensive appendix section with resources and tools to assist with all adaptation action areas; an adaptation pathways and application matrix; and an extensive literature review covering sea level rise adaptation and risk management strategies for the water sector.

Barriers to Adaptation in the Water Sector

Sea level rise adaptation may be hindered by any number of factors. Barriers consistently expressed by water sector planners and managers include lack of political urgency, lack of adequate and quantifiable information about potential sea level rise impacts, the long planning timeframe required to address sea level rise juxtaposed with short-term political cycles, lack of direction from state agencies, inflexible permitting and zoning processes, and a lack of funding and other resources to take action.

The barriers to adaptation implementation can be categorized as follows:

Federal building
Governance
Stack of cash
Financial
Computer upload icon
Technical
Globe
Social/Cultural

The goal of this guide is to provide guidance on how to overcome these barriers and identify opportunities for the advancement of sea level rise adaptation measures.

Expand each section below to see a list of leading practices and view the full page for that barrier as it is outlined in the report. Where applicable, leading practices are followed by real-world examples of that practice from the utilities and communities studied. Some examples include links, tools, and documents that support specific projects, adaptation actions or barriers.

Equity and Environmental Justice

Fully addressing equity and environmental justice impacts and challenges are outside the scope of this guide, but several of the leading practices outlined here provide opportunities to begin addressing these social ills while simultaneously building climate resilience. In fact, the two are inextricably linked; we will not successfully adapt if our most vulnerable populations—including people of color and low-income communities—are not protected and given the tools to thrive.

It is important that water sector practitioners understand the disproportionate impacts marginalized communities face. Marginalized communities – including low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous peoples and tribal nations, and immigrant communities – tend to be disproportionately impacted by climate change more than other populations. While complex and location-specific, this disproportionate impact generally stems from unjust systems that have been in place for many decades (e.g., underinvestment, exposure to pollution and toxins, poverty, limited access to public services, predatory inclusion, discriminatory lending practices, redlining, and outdated infrastructure systems). These entrenched systems are extremely difficult to overturn and require dedicated proactive work.

It is vital that water utilities recognize the structures in place that may result in unequal impacts and actively work to break down these injustices. The water sector and government entities must develop equitable planning and investment strategies to ensure that sea level rise will not contribute further to the displacement of marginalized communities, low-income families, and BIPOC-owned business. Establishing level of service goals/standards and considering how climate change will impact them, is one approach water utilities can use to ensure that services are equally distributed. To reach the standard, investments may need to be concentrated in areas that have historically been excluded from infrastructure upgrades or have deferred maintenance, ensuring that everyone has equal access to the same basic services.

As utilities search for adaptation solutions that build resilience, an equity lens is an essential part of building community resilience and adapting to sea level rise. Water sector practitioners must come to the table ready to partner with and listen to community advocates throughout the entire adaption process. These conversations and partnerships are a necessary first step to begin correcting the egregious wrongdoings of the past.

Equity is a priority in WUCA's Five-Year Strategic Plan. WUCA has committed to "incorporate consideration of equity into all WUCA's work", and is currently engaged in a multi-year partnership with the US Water Alliance to advance water equity and climate resilience so that equity is a priority in the climate adaptation efforts of WUCA and individual member utilities.

Final Remarks

The goal of this document is to identify leading practices to help the water sector move forward and take adaptation action to address sea level rise. While there are many practices presented herein that water utilities can employ on their own—such as raising critical equipment out of the floodplain or making the business case to invest in RO technology—many of the leading practices outlined here require thoughtful coordination with other city departments and stakeholders. In developing this guide and uncovering inspiring examples of implemented adaptation actions from around the country, a fatal flaw in our effort emerged: it is focused on one sector. Piecemeal efforts by one sector may build resilience to a degree, but to successfully adapt in a holistic way, we must start thinking beyond our siloed work environments and coordinate on a scale that has never been seen before.

Another flaw that emerged is the imperfect framing of implementation barriers in four discrete categories; in reality, these barriers are often closely linked and interdependent. For example, a lack of political support may lead to increased financial constraints, and financial constraints might lead to technical limitations. Again, we find that to holistically address sea level rise threats and the broader climate crisis, we need a paradigm shift. While bottom-up efforts can be successful, ultimately, top-down support and a willingness to prioritize planning and projects that address the climate crisis are needed. Therefore, looking at the leading practices to overcome governance barriers may be the best place to start.

While it is clear we need a monumental shift in our thinking about climate change, the small and incremental improvements to improve infrastructure resilience, make staff more prepared, and empower and inform communities do matter—the small changes can sum up to significant impacts. Climate adaptation is an inherently difficult process, and with dedicated effort we can begin pushing past the barriers to create sustainable and equitable water systems and communities. How we begin to accomplish this will vary, but the examples in this guide demonstrate the creative and collaborative steps water utilities nationwide have already taken to achieve this vision.

As utilities undertake adaptation planning and begin the implementation process, we hope the leading practices assembled through this multi-year project provide real-world examples of solutions and success. We would like to conclude by highlighting overarching themes that emerged:

Overarching Themes

  1. Think big and outside the box. As our climate continues to change, we, as water utilities, must continue pushing the boundaries and strive for innovation. The status quo is not adequate. To truly address the magnitude of the climate crisis, we need to think creatively, beyond traditional solutions.
  2. Collaborate across siloes with a diverse set of stakeholders. Many of the leading practices highlighted here cannot be implemented by the water sector alone. Strong partnerships with other government agencies, stakeholders, and community members provide a space to include new voices to develop creative, effective, large-scale adaptation projects that address multiple issues and leverage resources.
  3. Incorporate flexibility and iteration in your adaptation planning and implementation. Adaptation planning to implementation is not a one-and-done process. With ever-changing information and considerable uncertainty, adaptation strategies must remain flexible and be re-evaluated often. The case studies highlighted in this guide often demonstrate where flexibility in the planning process can pay off in the long run by avoiding overinvestments. The ability to pivot as new information and resources become available can serve utilities well throughout the adaptation process.
  4. Consider all planning and decisions through an equity and environmental justice lens. Flooding hazards and the underlying causes of their disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations pose one of the biggest environmental justice challenges of our time. The climate crisis continues to exacerbate social inequities across our cities and communities, making them inextricably linked. Equitable, co-produced adaptation solutions are vital to ensuring our actions protect—and do not inadvertently harm—the communities we serve. Many of the leading practices in this guide touch upon equity and community engagement, yet it falls short of comprehensively viewing solutions through an equity lens. Going forward, we must shift our thinking to consider water and climate equity in everything we do.

Footnotes

  1. Water utility or water sector used here generally encompasses the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater sectors collectively.
  2. A periodic fluctuation in sea surface temperature and air pressure across the equatorial Pacific Ocean, occurring every 2 to 7 years. (Developed from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(Opens another site in new window))
  3. The ongoing movement of land in response to ice sheet loading and unloading. (Developed from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(Opens another site in new window))
  4. Land reclamation as an adaptation approach to sea level rise is often employed in island nations that have nowhere to "retreat" to or in dense urban coastal cities where the reclaimed land can not only help protect from rising seas but also alleviate crowded conditions. Reclaimed land provides development opportunities, which creates a financial incentive for taking on such a costly, large-scale project.
Brought to you by EcoAdapt and the Water Utility Climate Aliance
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