Sea 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 water 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).

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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

Miami water treatment area surrounded by water

Overarching Themes

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.
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.
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.
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.