MWRA’s Pragmatic Approach to Climate Change Adaptation
Stephen Estes-Smargiassi EBC – November 30, 2011 1
Best Known for the “Boston Harbor Cleanup” and Quabbin Reservoir
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MWRA is the Regional Water and Wastewater Wholesaler •
MWRA provides wholesale water and wastewater services to over 2.5 million customers in 61 communities
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On average, MWRA delivers about 200 million gallons per day to its water customers, with a peak demand of up to 350 million gallons
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MWRA collects and treats an average of 350 million gallons of wastewater per day, with a peak capacity of 1.2 billion gallons
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Our Mission in Short • Adequate, Reliable Supply of High Quality Drinking Water • Environmentally Responsible Collection, Treatment and Disposal of Wastewater • Drink with Confidence • Flush with Pride • All Accomplished Affordably • Under All Circumstances 4
• We Already Have Lots on our Plate • Why Worry about Climate Change?
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Our potential adversary • • • • •
Increased Average Temperatures Increased Extreme Temperatures Sea Level Rise Change in Precipitation Patterns More Severe Droughts
• How will our systems adapt?
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Adaptation For Sea Level Rise In The Design of Deer Island WWTP
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A Rising Sea Impacts The Hydraulics Of The Outfall Tunnel …. But we’ve accounted for this in a 1989 design of Deer Island.
Design assumed maximum sea-level rise of 1.9 ft by Year 2050
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Over time, model resolution has become finer Old grid size
GCM computational cells color coded by predicted precipitation: Source: NCAR
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Many available models, finding ways to use all the data
Source: http://www.aip.org/history/climate/GCM.htm 10
Preliminary Conclusions: Plenty of High Quality Water
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Impact of a 100 Year Storm and Sea Level Rise In Year 2100 – based on work done by UCC.
Data sources: Flooded area IPCC , ground elevations determined by LIDAR. 12
Impact of Global Warming: 100 Year Storm and Sea Level Rise In Year 2100.
My Office
Data sources: Flooded area IPCC , ground elevations determined by LIDAR. 13
More like Venice in 1966!
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100 Yr Storm – Today’s Situation
Data Sources: Ground elevation from 2002 LIDAR data.
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Impact of a 100 Year Storm Surge coupled with Sea Level Rise for Year 2100 – Using Scenario Generated by Union of Concerned Scientists.
Extent of potential MWRA Impact • 12 Sewer Facilities • 2 Administrative building facilities • 877 Sewer Manholes • 3 Water facilities Data Sources: Flood Zone, IPCC A1F1 Scenario. Elevations: 2002 LIDAR data. 16
King County, WA -- Vulnerable Facilities Inventory Approach •
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Used GIS to identify vulnerable areas along coast line (project area in white) Facilities subject to tidal and storm impacts 40 facilities included One Secondary TP, Three CSO TPs (red/orange) Pump stations (green) Regulator stations (blue)
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Sea Level Rise Scenarios at Chelsea Creek Screenhouse Sea Level Rise Scenario - Chelsea Screen House 16
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Surge 100yr Surge 50 yr Surge 10yr Surge 2yr SLR MHHW
Chelsea Screen House LBOSE
Feet Above NAVD 88 (0.00')
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0 Current Conditions
2050 2100 Very Low Rise (low probability-low impact)
2050 2100 Medium Rise (most likely)
2050 2100 Very High Rise (low probability-high impact)
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Chelsea Screen House w/ Flood Elevation
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Preview of Preliminary SLR Impacts
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Plan for Inundation
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Climate Change and The Planning Process • MWRA Master Plan update process is a good opportunity to put issues on the table for senior management and the Board of Directors to grapple with. • Climate change will be treated as an extra dimension in the assessment of infrastructure reinvestment. • Climate change can also be an input for the vulnerability analysis for extreme events (such as hurricane preparedness exercises) which identifies infrastructure fixes to provide extra resiliency. • Think about all aspects whenever a facility is being evaluated or upgraded: use the investment cycle 24
Questions or Comments? • • • •
Stephen Estes-Smargiassi
[email protected] 617-788-4303 www.mwra.com
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