Our environment is experiencing changes in climate patterns that were not anticipated by the designers of our coastal and upland surface-water water management systems.
In some areas, annual rainfall amounts may remain about the same. But instead of falling over long period, rain may fall in a shorter period, drastically increasing the likelihood of flooding and altering the performance of existing drainage systems. Meanwhile, other areas are experiencing drought conditions for the first time in modern history.
Upward trends in sea levels, coupled with king tides, are causing regular nuisance flooding in many coastal communities. Small increases in sea level can result in large impacts.
Larger, more powerful tropical storms make landfall with greater windspeeds and storm surges, which overtop seawalls and coastal protections, leaving wide and long trails of destruction.
The resilience of businesses, cities, institutions, and our infrastructure depends upon a cycle of risk assessment and planning, identification and implementation of adaptative solutions, and evaluation and monitoring during adverse conditions.
How Geosyntec Can Help with Resilience and Adaptation
Our changing global climate, shifting rainfall distribution and intensity, rising sea levels, and growing coastal populations require creative, innovative, and practical solutions. Geosyntec's team of professionals supports our clients in all areas needed for successful resilience and adaptation. Coupling a broad range of disciplines and skillsets with real-world experience, we prepare clients for long-term success in a way that aligns with their goals and objectives. This support may include comprehensive studies of coastal flooding risks and design solutions, countywide flood mapping, cloud-based predictive and adaptive stormwater management applications, backflow prevention strategies for stormwater sewers, and risk assessments of individual facilities, processes, and communities.
Coastal, Flood, Sea Level Rise, and Climate Change
We provide the following services to mitigate your risks and improve your resiliency:
- Assessment and Planning
- Adaptive Design Solutions
- Evaluation and Monitoring
Using our expertise in coastal, hydraulic, hydrologic, structural, and geotechnical engineering, as well as water resources management and ecology, Geosyntec helps clients address the challenges associated with climate change and sea-level rise. Geosyntec's Resilience and Adaptation Practice has recently accomplished the following:
- Begun updating Broward County's flood maps to reflect current coastal and climate conditions
- Applied cloud-based technology for innovative stormwater management during recent hurricanes in Florida
- Brought innovative flood-proofing technologies to small businesses in New York City
- Developed sea-level rise guidance for a large industrial complex in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Created tools for Massachusetts Bays Nation Estuary Program to manage tide gates both currently and for anticipated climate-change impacts
- Helped a California municipality obtain grant funding and conducted vulnerability assessments of their stormwater and wastewater systems
- Modeled 1,000-year flood events for nuclear power plant risk management programs in the United States
- Developed resilience measures to address tidal impacts to stormwater infrastructure from extreme weather events for a coastal Florida municipality
- Developed shore protection with marsh creation as part of an island-based oil and gas marine facility
