FAU Study re Effects of Sea Level Rise on SE Florida Water System Receives Media Coverage

Fred Grimm’s columns appeared on October 22nd and 26th on the Miami Herald website and in the print edition the following days in response to the October 19th release by FAU if a Summary Report on its study on SE Florida’s Resilient Water Resources (link: http://www.ces.fau.edu/files/projects/climate_change/SE_Florida_Resilient_Water_FAU2011.pdf) The release of this report coincided with with the 21st Annual Conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists held this week Miami’s Intercontinental Hotel. I was also a guest speaker at the SEJ Conference’s seminar and tour on Sea Level Rise on October 20th. The press release and conference presentation resulted in extensive media coverage in Southeast Florida’s newspapers and a TV newscast on WPTV-5 in West Palm Beach.

Grimm’s column is copied below and the links to these articles are listed as follows:
1. Miami Herald, Fred Grimm’s column, October 22, 2011 entitled Sea levels will rise, washing away climate deniers,
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/22/v-print/2467017/sea-levels-will-rise-washing-away.html

2. Miami Herald, Fred Grimm’s column, October 26, 2011 entitled For some South Florida cities, rising seas will mean rising sewage,
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/26/2473416/for-some-south-florida-cities.html#ixzz1cBU0iLqT

3. Sun-Sentinel, David Fleshler article, October 20, 2011, entitled Study: Rising sea levels will hit hard in South Florida
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-10-20/news/fl-water-climate-20111020_1_sea-level-rise-sea-levels-global-warming

4. South Florida Business Journal, Paul Brinkmann article, October 19, 2011, Study: Rising seas will hit S. Florida water bills
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2011/10/19/FAU-climate-change-Florida-sea-level.html

5. WPTV-5 West Palm Beach, Evan Axelbank news story, Study: Climate change threat grows in South Florida [VIDEO]

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_s_palm_beach_county/boca_raton/fau-study-says-the-rising-sea-levels-threaten-south-florida

Sea Level Rise will have Significant Effects on South Florida's Water Systems

Posted: 10/19/2011

Last Updated: 18 hours and 35 minutes ago
By: Evan Axelbank

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The system is simple: stormwater is collected in Palm Beach County's 1,600 miles of canal.

[The following contains excerpts from the news broadcast]

The drainage keeps neighborhoods dry as the water flows through floodgates and into the Atlantic. "This system has been very effective," said Barry Heimlich, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University. But scientists at FAU say the system is on its last legs. A report released Wednesday says global warming will cause sea levels in South Florida to rise up to seven inches in 20 years. "Serious flooding during heavy rain events like the kind of rainfall we've been having," said Heimlich. And even worse, Heimlich said fixing the problem won't be free. Scientists expect that the gates will have to be replaced with bigger ones that have pumps, a huge undertaking when you consider that there are dozens in South Florida. "A big challenge is where is this money going to come from? For just the drainage system, we are going to need a billion and a quarter dollars over the next 40 years," said Heimlich. South Florida - in just 20 years - could be underwater every time it rains, if the reengineering doesn't start soon. "We can all be ostriches and keep our head in the sand and not see what's coming. But here in South Florida, if we do that, our heads are going to get wet," said Heimlich. Scientists at FAU started this study in 2009 at the request of a group in Washington, The Bipartisan Policy Center.

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_s_palm_beach_county/boca_raton/fau-study-says-the-rising-sea-levels-threaten-south-florida#ixzz1bPiarYQ3

Sea level rise threatens SE Florida water resources

 A research study I led at Florida Atlantic University presents the effects of sea level rise and changes in weather patterns on Southeast Florida’s water supply and stormwater drainage systems. It concludes that as little as 3” to 9” of sea level rise will increase saltwater contamination of our drinking water, and it will reduce the capacity of our stormwater drainage systems by 30% to 70%. And, there is a 95% probability that sea level rise will exceed 3” within the next 20 to 30 years, and by more than 9” within the next 50-60 years. The new Summary Report can be downloaded at:
http://www.ces.fau.edu/files/projects/climate_change/SE_Florida_Resilient_Water_FAU2011.pdf
The detailed reports can be downloaded at:
http://www.ces.fau.edu/files/projects/climate_change/SE_Florida_Resilient_Water_Resources.pdf
and
http://www.ces.fau.edu/files/projects/climate_change/PompanoBeachWater_CaseStudy.pdf

FAU posts new report on the effect of climate change on Southeast Florida's water resources.

Florida Atlantic University's Center for Environmental Studies posted a report entitled: Southeast Florida's Resilient Water Resources: Adaptation to the Effects of Sea Level Rise and other Climate Change Impacts, which I co-authored with Fred Bloetscher, Dan Meeroff, and Jim Murley. The report concludes that sea level rise of as little as 3 to 9 inches within the next 10 to 30 years in Southeast Florida could contribute to significant saltwater intrusion, reduced availability of fresh water supplies and increased risk of flooding during heavy rainstorms. It presents an planning framework for improving the resilience of Southeast Florida's water supply infrastructure and flood control systems.

The report is posted at: http://www.ces.fau.edu/files/projects/climate_change/SE_Florida_Resilient_Water_Resources.pdf

Heimlich kicks off 350.org rally in Fort Lauderdale against climate change

Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 24, 2009

Nearly 200 rally in Fort Lauderdale against climate change

FORT LAUDERDALE - Nearly 200 people rallied in downtown Fort Lauderdale this morning as part of a global campaign to demand action against climate change."Come on everybody, we can stop global warming," yelled Barry Heimlich, a volunteer with 350.org, which organized the demonstration outside the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science. For more on the event, click here.

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At the event, we called out to President Obama and the leaders of the world to do what's necessary to protect our grandchildren's future by agreeing to an agressive program at the climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.

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The photo at the right shows my grandchildren Matthew and Mia who stood by my side during the speech. It's for them, my other 6 grandchildren, and grandchildren everywhere that we all have to do everything we can to help stop global warming.

A Must Read: "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by Tom Friedman

This book, by Pulitzer Prize winning author and NY Times columnist, Tom Friedman, is a must read for anyone interested in global warming and climate change. This book will give Friedman his 4th Pulitzer -- the last one was "The World is Flat." In his new book, he compellingly explains the nexus between global warming, globalization, and the population explosion, and he makes a compelling case for why the new "Energy-Climate Era" offers a great opportunity for America to reassert leadership in the world and economic prosperity. The book is available at Amazon.com and other book stores.

Climatologists Forecast Completely New Climates

ScienceDAILY - September 1, 2007 — Geographers have projected temperature increases due to greenhouse gas emissions to reach a not-so-chilling conclusion: climate zones will shift and some climates will disappear completely by 2100. Tropical highlands and polar regions may be the first to disappear, and large swaths of the tropics and subtropics will reach even hotter temperatures. The study anticipates large climate changes worldwide. More

Researchers Generate Hydrogen Without The Carbon Footprint
ScienceDaily (2008-07-18) -- A greener, less expensive method to produce hydrogen for fuel may eventually be possible with the help of water, solar energy and nanotube diodes that use the entire spectrum of the sun's energy. ... > read full article

Bush Administration finally releases climate report

Today, the Bush administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy finally released a comprehensive report on climate change (see MSNBC article) which concurs with the findings of the IPCC and the vast majority of the scientific community. You can download OSTP's fact sheet, the full report, or the exec summary at OSTP's website. I wonder what the naysayers have to say about this new report from OSTP. Now even the Bush administration has to admit that global warming is real, I wish it wasn't so -- I won't get any pleasure from being right about this. The sad fact is that our President held this report up for 4 years. Not only that, he could have joined the Kyoto Agreement in 2001 and enabled our country to play a global leadership role in doing what is needed to minimize this serious problem. Instead, the world has lost 8 critical years. More damage has been done, it will be more costly and difficult to make the changes needed, and the consequences will be worse and more costly to deal with. On Tuesday May 27, 2008, I was interviewed live on a conservative radio talk show whose host declared that he doesn't believe in global warming. He cited the work of OISM, an obscure medical research lab in Oregon that has been bashing climate change in a program financed by ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, and the George C. Marshall Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington whose CEO is a former ExxonMobil executive. OISM spearheads the "Global Warming Petition Project" that has signed up 31000 "scientists" who are climate change naysayers. OISM's director Arthur Robinson along with his son Noah and Willie Soon published an article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons entitled "Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" This journal is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, an ultra-conservative political-economic group of medical doctors. You can find out who AAPS and OISM are at Google.com. I stood my ground in the discussion asserting that global warming is caused primarily by human activity and a serious threat to the global environment. The naysayers are so fast to criticize Al Gore, but I think the world would be in a much better place if he became president in 2001. Besides doing a lot more to avert climate change, we wouldn't be in Iraq. I've included pictures of my 8 grandchildren, aged 10 months to 10 years, in this post. I worry about what the world will be like for them in 40, 50, 60 years. I want to ask the naysayers if they have kids, or grandkids. Are they so sure that global warming is a hoax and that all is going to be ok regardless of what we do about energy that they'd put their kids' and grandkids' futures at risk? Do they put that much faith that Dr. Robinson, the OISM, and the 31000 petitioners know better than the OSTP, NAS, and IPCC? They ought to give it some serious thought.

Misleading article on global warming

The May 19, 2008 Sun-Sentinel article entitled "Study blasts global warming fears" on hurricanes and global warming is biased and misleading, and it encourages complacency when urgent action is needed. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-flbstudy0519sbmay19,0,5299587.story

Hopefully the number of Atlantic hurricanes will decrease as reported in a new study by NOAA's Knutson, although the study also predicts the possibility that storms will carry stronger winds and much heavier rains. AP reports, "Knutson acknowledges weaknesses in his computer model" and that it "significantly underestimates the increase in wind strength.. Some other scientists criticized his computer model." http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9YzbkbPjYwP_3-9wZhTNbMcZSAQD90OGDV80 There is still considerable disagreement among leading climate scientists about what the future may actually hold with regard to hurricanes.

What the article also fails to report is that hurricanes are not all there is to fear about global warming. There is no doubt that sea level rise threatens coastal areas worldwide and is being caused by thermal expansion of the oceans and melting glaciers. Vulnerable South Florida will have to adapt to eroded beaches, flooded waterfront and low-lying property, seawater invasion of coastal wetlands including the Everglades, greater impacts from hurricane-induced storm surges, and, most importantly, saltwater intrusion of the Biscayne Aquifer that supplies most of our fresh water. Should we ignore predicted global increases in droughts, wildfires, heat waves, floods, violent weather, extinctions of many animal, plant and marine species, tropical diseases, and the disappearance of mountain ice sheets and glaciers that feed the world's rivers and provide water needed by billions of people and agriculture? We need to understand that global warming is real and it threatens to change life on Earth in fearful ways. Unless everyone everywhere changes the way energy is produced and used, and does it fast, this will be a far less hospitable world for our children and grandchildren. The media has a responsibility to tell the whole story. Barry N Heimlich, President, Florida Energy Imperative, 3650 North 36th Avenue, #55, Hollywood, FL 33021, 954-963-2428, mailto:FLenergy@bellsouth.net