Humans Are Altering Risk of Nuisance Floods

New research suggests that excessive groundwater usage and damming have changed the natural risk of nuisance floods, for better or worse, in eastern U.S. coastal cities.

Nuisance flooding—the kind of sunny-day, nonfatal flooding that closes roads, seeps into basements, and generally causes, well, a nuisance—is on the rise along southern stretches of the U.S. eastern coast and on the decline farther north. The ways that humans are altering the natural flow of water in and on the Earth are partly responsible for these changes, according to an international team of researchers.

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“In some of our past work, we showed that there is a high rate of subsidence along the U.S. East Coast,” said Makan Karegar of the University of South Florida in Tampa and the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany. “We asked ourselves, ‘What comes next? How does this relate to human life, and what are the implications?’” Karegar is lead author on a paper describing this research that was published in Scientific Reports on 11 September.

Karegar and his colleagues measured vertical land motion along the U.S. East Coast using data from the past 2 decades. They found that coastal latitudes that include Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina—regions that extract groundwater faster than nature replenishes it—are sinking significantly faster than geologic average. As a consequence, they are experiencing increased nuisance flood rates.

In contrast, the coastlines of Maine and New Hampshire are actually rising, and nuisance flooding in northern U.S. coastal cities has decreased. These regions are ascending in response to water building up behind Canadian dams hundreds of kilometers away, the weight of which presses down on the land directly beneath the reservoirs and pushes peripheral land upward, according to this study. Human-induced changes to local water loads, said Karegar, have altered the natural risk of nuisance floods along the coast.

“We are nowadays able to measure such small rates of vertical land motion,” said Riccardo Rivaof Technische Universiteit Delft in Delft, Netherlands, who did not participate in the project. “This is highly relevant for urban and infrastructure planning.”

Although this research does not consider potentially fatal floods due to severe weather, like the recent hurricane-induced flooding in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, frequent nuisance flooding can indicate areas that may be at risk for catastrophic flooding in the face of future storms.

Read full article: EOS

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Taxonomy

• Groundwater
• Consumption
• Flood damage
• Flood prediction
• Flood Risk Management
• Flood Modeling

2 Comments

1. Hello Guy

   Man is his biggest predator. It does everything to self-destruct. There's nothing to be done, let's do it. All his actions only amplify the negative. Artificial intelligence believes that it can be stronger than NATURE. Let us do, NATURE will demonstrate to the contrary. To the great dismay of the collateral damage of all the Living on earth.

2. When people speak of ZERO waste they usually think of reduced landfill material.  But since we use water we need to include it in our zero waste scenario.  My question The work I am doing for NASA and a few private organizations do take this in consideration as well as the air they breathe. It is a 100% closed eco system.  Space stations and mining operations will require this system before they begin operations.  With current technology a minimum of 90% of water taken daily from reservoirs etc. can be eliminated.  Within 5 years the space technology will evolution will allow 100% recycling of water with only evaporation as our only water loss item.  Space travel and exploration must have this knowledge or it is a no go.  But on earth our screwed up economies require payment for free natural resources.  Therefore it is much more difficult to stop WTP and WWTP from using chlorine in cleaning/purifying water to become unpotable/potable for drinking.  Notice:  No one is EVER supposed to drink chlorinated water. It kills you normal gut flora and sets the stage for a reduced immune response cancers, diabetes, and many more.   My question to all concerned: How big must the man made crisis be and how many people must die of disease and thirst waiting and hoping that one more agency or non profit association will stop using chlorine and allow nature to restore our water tables and return to natural geologic subsidence? Your options are clear. Do or die.  I await your answer.