Water Infrastructure
Project Cost, Risk Responsibility Debated at Resilience Conference
Environmental officials and water utilities from the U.S. and abroad discussed how coastal cites worldwide are managing flooding impacts and project costs
Engineers, policy professionals and analysts at a waterfront resilience conference last month in New York City agreed that communities need to be better prepared for drastic changes in water levels—whether rising or falling—but had more contentious debate over responsibility to execute and fund those preparations.
The issues arose during the opening plenary at the event, hosted by the Waterfront Alliance, which explored how coastal cities around the world are managing waterfronts. In the U.K., the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan sets goals that municipalities should meet every five years to improve flood defenses against flooding, but the non-statutory program is tough to enforce, said Charlie Wood, London-area director of the country's Environment Agency.
Responsibility for flood prevention oversight also was the topic of a separate panel related to designing for rising groundwater levels. In the Queens neighborhood of South Jamaica, groundwater flooding became a recurring issue after the mid 1990s when the New York City Dept. of Environmental Protection acquired the last private water company that had supplied homes and businesses in the borough with well water, and connected residents to the larger municipal Catskill system, participants explained. When well pumping stopped in1986, groundwater rose, and by 2007, neighborhood water levels were 35 feet higher, agency statistics cited.
York College, a City University of New York branch based in the neighborhood, has hired consultant Arcadis to help stem water seeping into its subbasement. The school pumps between 15,000 and 100,000 gallons per day to minimize damage to its mechanical equipment. Arcadis is doing injection grouting in subbasement slabs, although that is only a temporary fix, acknowledged Michael Escobar, a company water engineer.
Other area residents and business owners with flooded basements have asked the department to resume well pumping, said William Scarborough, president of the Southeast Queens Residents Environmental Justice Coalition. The official agency stance is that it is not responsible for mitigating groundwater flooding in the area, he noted. The agency has installed "reverse seepage basins," a type of underground catchment basin, in some areas to help drain the water into Jamaica Bay. “We have not gotten information as to how successful, if successful, they are,” Scarborough said. “I do know it’s on everybody’s radar screen.”
A department spokesperson responding to an ENR query said the agency recognizes that communities in Queens are experiencing a range of flooding challenges, including stormwater, sewer capacity and groundwater. “We remain committed to collaborating on efforts to understand the scope of the issues and the feasibility of potential solutions. It’s also important to note that [the agency] has made, and continues to make, significant infrastructure investments in Queens, including the $2.8 billion sewer buildout in Southeast Queens that will reduce street flooding and groundwater recharge,” the spokesperson said.
Shared Rssponsibility
Experts at the conference also discussed logistics of what shared responsibility looks like—noting that which parties bear risks has changed over time. NYC Ferry has split public-private management, with the city Economic Development Commission handling landing development and maintenance and Hornblower Group caring for boats and handling daily operation. Earlier contracts between the city and the company placed most of the risk on the operator, although the balance has since shifted, said Jeff Brault, Hornblower Group vice president of global public affairs.
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Rebecca Fischman, a principal resilience planner at Arcadis, noted her interest to determine how insurers can become more active investors in projects, as federal funding dries up for coastal defense infrastructure for New York City and other municipalities. "The elephant in the room is the insurance companies,” she said.
In the past, better availability of federal funds reduced need for state and local governments to seriously consider strategies of their own for project finances. But with that funding not guaranteed, the pressure is on, said Alison Branco, director of climate adaptation for The Nature Conservancy in New York. “We’re having [a] conversation about how to be a bit more self-sufficient funding-wise… and I think that’s a good thing,” she noted.
A $4.2- million bond measure passed in New York in 2022 could set a good example, said Kisha Santiago, deputy secretary for the New York Dept. of State. Funds are allocated for stormwater management, coastal rehabilitation and other infrastructure projects. Other methods for funding resilient choices are in the works, including state legislation that would allow stormwater to be regulated in the same way that sewage is—allowing water authorities to charge runoff-related fees.
The federal Inflation Reduction Actm enacted in 2022 in the Biden era, created a “wild time of opportunity,” said Santiago. The funding might have been taken back by the Trump administration but it created some lasting benefits. “That really also helped to bring together the state agencies in a way that local governments need them to work together,” she said.
For its part, credit rating agency Moody’s has tried to become more transparent about how climate risk factors into its ratings, said Jennifer Chang, a vice president and senior credit officer in its sustainable finance group. Available relief funds and insurance, as well as physical defenses, impact ratings, she said,.
