Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources.
“Resiliency – the ability to adapt to difficult situations and successfully overcome adversity.”
An increasing body of research shows that people with strong social networks have a better chance of recovering from crisis; and that when people come together to rebuild, it can result in great innovation. Vermont’s history, from the early settlers in the 1700s to the great flood of 1927, demonstrates the truth of this research. And now, again, even in the shadow of the loss suffered by so many Vermont families, communities are coming together to reinvent themselves. Vermonters are a model of resiliency. So, too, are Vermont’s ecosystems.
This year many of Vermont’s ecosystems suffered significant damage from Irene and from the historic floods in May. Rain swollen rivers eroded their banks, realigning their contours, sweeping fertile agricultural land downstream. Pollution washed into our watersheds and as we repaired our infrastructure, work in the rivers compounded the damage.
While the state, local and federal responses to the flooding have been outstanding, we cannot underestimate the significant cost of flooding to Vermont. Scientists warn that changes in the earth’s climate will result in more frequent extreme one-day precipitation events, like those we saw this year, so we must do what we can now to prevent future economic harm, environmental damage and threats to public health from floods.
Ecosystems, like people, exhibit their own form of resiliency: and like people, they are more likely to bounce back when the surrounding environment supports the healing and prevents additional damage. There are things we can do to make our ecosystems and our communities more resilient, and to protect ourselves from future floods.
· Think twice before we build in floodplains. This year Vermonters suffered millions of dollars of damage when homes, businesses and roads in the floodplain were damaged or destroyed; and we saw environmental harm from failed septic systems and oil tanks leaking pollution into our waterways.
· Where possible, restore our river corridors. The places where we allow our river to meander survived this year’s floods with a minimum of damage. When we restore our river corridors we protect properties up and down the river because it gives a place for the stormwater to go, instead of flooding our towns. Re-vegetating the banks of our lakes and rivers and maintaining healthy forests helps prevent erosion that destroys property and pollutes the water.
· Design our communities for flood resiliency. We must rethink how we design our communities. New development can incorporate low impact building techniques and designs that allow water to seep into the ground, more closely imitating the natural cycle of water in which rain flows into the ground, is filtered by the soil, and then is slowly released into streams. Strategically placing green spaces and town forests can help absorb runoff in our built environments. This is not necessarily easy work, or cheap – but many communities have begun this work and are seeing results.
· Use innovative approaches for infrastructure design. When we build and renovate infrastructure like roads, bridges, culverts and wastewater treatment facilities we need to anticipate future flood events and look for innovative approaches to make them more resilient to floods.
Leadership from the top. Just weeks before Irene hit Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and I announced a major flood resiliency initiative in response to the unprecedented spring flooding experienced last May. In light of Irene we will be expanding that effort. In the coming months we will be working across state agencies to develop a plan for Vermont that will use what we learned from this year’s floods to better prepare us for the future. With our partners in Canada and New York we are convening a conference that brings together state, local and regional partners to consider the latest research on innovative approaches to prevent, mitigate and respond to future floods.
State government will not solve this problem alone. Like every environmental challenge facing Vermont we need to work together. But if our response to Irene is any indication, Vermonters are well up to the task.
What causes floods? We experience flooding when stormwater cannot soak into the ground so it flows into our lakes, rivers and streams in amounts that make those water bodies exceed their banks. For example:
· Earlier warming trend are changing the timing of our spring snowmelt. When the snow melts before the ground thaws the water has nowhere to go except our lakes, rivers and streams. This year the early snowmelt was combined with record spring rainfall and the consequence was disastrous for Lake Champlain.
· The impervious surfaces we create – parking lots, pavement, roofs and other development – within our communities mean that stormwater has nowhere to go but our lakes, rivers and streams. And it brings with it all sorts of harmful pollution!
· Floodplains and wetlands are nature’s way of making us more resilient to flooding because it creates a place for stormwater to go, and it prevents pollution from reaching our lakes and streams. The more we fill in and developed our floodplains and wetlands, the less able the landscape is able to absorb snowmelt and rainfall. The areas that suffered the least damage in Hurricane Irene had less development in the floodplain and more marshy areas.
Costs of Flooding:
Economic impacts: property damage including both buildings and loss of land through erosion, loss of customers and tourism for lake dependent businesses, and disruption of other businesses as well.
Damage to public infrastructure: roads, drinking water and waste water treatment facilities, bridges, and culverts. Repairing this infrastructure will require public monies.
Environmental impacts: spills of oil, hazardous wastes, and other chemicals; septic tank failures; excess sediment and associated nutrients – all of these impact the environmental quality of the lake; also, it is likely that algae blooms this summer have been exacerbated by the flooding. Work we do in our rivers to protect infrastructure destroys fish habitat. All of these impacts have immediate costs associated with them, and will also impact our economy over the long term.
Flooding and Lake Champlain water quality
The flood exacerbated a number of existing challenges facing Lake Champlain. Some wastewater treatment plants and sewer systems overflowed, septic systems were flooded or failed, oil tanks tipped and spilled, and some small amounts of hazardous chemicals such as paint and cleaners were spilled from flooded households and small businesses. In addition, some fields where manure had been spread flooded and that material ended up in the lake. Similarly, stormwater runoff from our towns and cities throughout the lake’s watershed carried nutrients such as phosphorous off of our lawns, sidewalks, roads, driveways and parking lots.
Stormwater runoff also caused serious erosion and the resulting sediment load carried significant amounts of nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen. The significant algae blooms we are seeing this summer are due in part to the significant amounts of sediment that entered the lake.
