Coastal infrastructure$500 million, 5-year plan to help Miami Beach withstand sea-level rise

Miami Beach is investing up to $500 million in a new five-year plan to fortify its coastline against flooding caused by sea-level rise.

As E&E News reports, the measure is part of a greater effort by the city public works department to adapt to sea-level rise over the next thirty years. Between seventy to eighty pumps that will be installed to drain the streets of water as it comes in. Additionally, the city is planning to raise roadways and sidewalks by 1.5 to 2 feet along the western side, which faces the Biscayne Bay.

“We’re anticipating that the elevation of roadways will not cost more than 10 to 15 percent more for stormwater improvements,” said Eric Carpenter, the public works director for Miami Beach. “It’s a long-term prospect.”

Florida is already seen as one of the most vulnerable states to climate change. Over the past 100 years, sea levels along the coast have risen 8 to 9 inches and are expected to rise by between three and seven inches within the next fifteen years, according to federal government projections.

The updates to the infrastructure of Miami Beach are part of the city’s 2012 Storm Water Management Master Plan (SWMMP), meant to evaluate the needs of the area and enact adaptation strategies.

“We can only postpone the problem,” said Luiz Rodrigues, the executive director of the Environmental Coalition of Miami and the Beaches. “We need to do what we can to preserve what we have. The city [of Miami Beach] is doing what it can right now.”

Already, the city’s economy has suffered from the effects of sea-level rise. Over the past ten years, businesses on West Avenue along the coast have been flooded between two to five times a year, until the first pumps were put in place in 2014.

While the first parts of the SWMMP have made a significant difference, many in Miami Beach still see a lack of commitment on the part of the state.

Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco said that he sent lobbyists to the capitol to “beg” for money and that the state government did not “want to deal with realities.”

Further, Florida governor Rick Scott has caused questions to be raised about whether, and to what degree, the State of Florida even accepts the reality of climate change after reports have surfaced that Scott has banned the use of the phrase “climate change” by members of his cabinet and in reports by state agencies.

“Our officials have embraced the idea that the sea is rising no matter what the source may be,” said Carpenter. “We don’t have time to debate the causes.”

Still, others look to Fort Lauderdale as an example of the success of the hard fight. The city has also experienced the effects of sea-level rise and has pooled resources to improve the resilience of the area with updated roads which were previously susceptible to storm surges.

“Cities all over the country are dealing with aging infrastructure,” said Susanne Torriente, the assistant city manager of Fort Lauderdale, “There’s no new pot of money that appears from the federal government.”