King County, Washington Climate Change Adaptation Efforts

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King County, WashingtonClimate Change Adaptation
Efforts

• 2009 Local Climate Leadership Summit
• Washington, D.C.
• May 20th, 2009
• Matt Kuharic
• King County
• Program Manager, Climate Response Initiatives
• Department of Natural Resources and Parks

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Presentation Outline

• Climate Impacts in the Pacific Northwest
• What is Adaptation Planning?
• Adaptation Guidebook
• Current King County Approach
• Example King County Adaptation Efforts
• Flood Control
• Vulnerable Facilities Assessment Tool
• Transportation infrastructure
• Ecosystem Climate Resiliency

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Who, Where, What is King County?

• 1.8 Million residents (14th largest county in
  U.S.)
• 2,134 Square Miles
• 39 Cities
• Provide local and regional services including
  regional transit, sewage treatment, solid waste
  disposal, flood control, regional parks, public
  health

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Who, Where, What is King County?
Cascade Mountains, glaciers, forest, farmland,
rural lands, urban coastline, rivers, big lakes,
small lakes, Puget Sound, Vashon Island
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Pacific Northwest Impacts of Climate Change

• will impact
• Snowpack
• Streamflow
• Flooding
• Water supply
• Sea level
• Soil water content
• and affect
• Agriculture
• Stormwater
• Wastewater Treatment
• Wildfire risk
• Roads
• Hydropower
• Forest health
• Salmon and biodiversity

• with consequences to
• Public health
• Economic
• livelihoods
• Financial sector
• Insurance
• industry
• Individual
• comfort
• Recreation

• Climate changes in
• Temperature
• Precipitation
• Storm frequency and intensity

Fire damage in the North Cascade Mountains
A male Coho Salmon
Source Climate Impacts Group, University of
Washington, www.cses.washington.edu/cig
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King County Climate Change Impacts

• Energy
• Impacts to hydropower production (Columbia River)
  and regional heating cooling degree days
• Salmon
• Productivity of streams for salmonids
• Flood impacts
• Agriculture/Economics
• Impacts on productivity and sustainability of
  agriculture

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King County Climate Change Impacts

• Forests
• Impacts to growth and productivity of forests and
  their susceptibility to fire and insect
  disturbance
• Infrastructure
• Impacts on vulnerable elements of civil
  infrastructure (stormwater systems)
• Consider precipitation variability and flood
  frequency/magnitude
• Health
• Impacts of ozone and particulate matter on
  childhood asthma
• Heat stress and potential increases in mortality

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What is adaptive planning?

• Planning with the understanding that
• History may no longer be a guide to the future
• We must prepare for change in built, human and
  natural systems
• We must be smart about what we build and where

The key is to listen to scientists, not
politicians. Former King County Executive Ron
Sims, US News and World Report, June 5, 2006
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Preparing for Climate ChangeGuidebook

• University of Washington Climate Impacts Group
• King County (WA)
• Published by ICLEI - USA
• Compliments ICLEIs Climate Resilient
  Communities Program

Google King County Climate Change Guidebook
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Like Eating and Drinking

• Mitigation
• Stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of
  greenhouse gases by reducing emissions across
  sectors
• Adaptation
• Ensuring the resilience of communities to the
  consequences of inevitable climate change

In essence, mitigation is our number one
preparedness strategy. If we do not stop the
growth of eventually reverse greenhouse gas
emissions, then our opportunity to adapt will be
limited by the rapid pace of climate
change. Former King County Executive Ron Sims
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2007 King County Climate Plan

• Provides an overview of strategies in both
  emissions reduction and preparedness
• Sets a process in motion
• Builds on over 15 years of efforts

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2008 King County Comprehensive Plan

• Assessment Mitigation Adaptation Collaboration
• Collaborate with local governments in the region
  to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 below
  2007 levels by 2050.
• Reduce net carbon emissions from county
  operations by 6 below 2000 emissions by 2010.
• Various sections direct departments to include
  consideration of impacts from climate change in
  plans and projects

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How is King County Adaptation Preparation and
Planning Going?
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Example of King Countys Adaptation Efforts

• Comprehensive Planning
• Flood Planning
• Reclaimed Water Efforts
• Wastewater Treatment Division Asset Management
• Transportation Infrastructure
• Carbon Sequestration and Ecosystem Resiliency on
  Public and Private Lands

Brightwater Treatment Plant construction
West Point Treatment Plant Seattle, Washington
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Flood Control
Rather than wait for disaster to loom, Sims
argued last week, "Let's make the investments and
prevent it." That investment would amount to as
much as... 30 a year on a 300,000 home. It
would seem to be the cheapest insurance a
homeowner could buy.
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Flood Plan

• Up to 335 million to improve King Countys
  system of 500 levees
• County purchase of most susceptible lands

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Reclaimed Water from Wastewater Treatment

• Creating resources from wastewater
• Continue and improve WTDs existing reclaimed
  water programs
• Develop markets for reclaimed water
• Complete a Draft Reclaimed Water Comprehensive
  Plan by 2011

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Vulnerability of Wastewater Facilities to
Flooding from Sea-Level Rise

• Identify Wastewater facilities impacted by storm
  surge/sea level rise (above extreme high water)
• Develop and conduct GIS based methodology
  combining sea level rise projections storm
  surge, compared to facility elevations
• Identify the impact threshold (problematic at
  what level)
• Characterize the impact (on-site flooding,
  hydraulic, operational)

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Adaptation and Planning ResponseVulnerable
Facilities Inventory contd.

• Conduct terrain analysis of five lowest sites and
  West Point Treatment Plant.
• Raise elevation of Brightwater sampling facility
  and flow monitor vault sites.
• Raise weir height and install outfall flap gate
  for Barton Pump Station improvements.

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Vulnerable Facilities InventoryResults and
Recommendations

• Conduct analysis of sea-level rise impacts on
  system hydraulics.
• Identify adaptive strategies for affected
  facilities (i.e., protective berms, armoring,
  relocation, etc.)
• Include findings in routine asset management
  improvements, capacity planning and facility
  design
• Review sea-level rise literature every five years
  and address in five year updates to conveyance
  system plan.

Vulnerable Facilities Assessment Tool. 2009
Available http//your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library
/wastewater/facilities-assessment/SLR_Tool.zip
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King County Transportation Infrastructure

• New 24 million Tolt Bridge spanning the
  Snoqualmie River has been built with longer spans
  than the previous bridge, increasing its capacity
  to withstand high flows and major flooding events
• More than 57 smaller "short span" bridges are
  planned to be replaced with wider span
  structures, allowing debris and floodwater to
  pass underneath without backing up river levels
• Culverts that will increasingly be at risk of
  chronic flooding and road failure, and would
  cause destruction of fish habitat during storm
  events will be replaced with larger systems not
  only to prevent roads from failing, but also to
  improve fish passage

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Community Forestry Climate Response and
Preparedness (CPR) Program

• Opportunities on public and private lands to
  increase carbon sequestration and improve
  ecosystem resiliency
• Virtually all of the lands have depleted soils
  and degraded vegetation
• Soil carbon declines of 60 to 70
• Soil structure lost
• Significant resource in organic residuals
• Bio-solids, food waste, yard waste, woody debris
• Public Lands Establishing test plots at the
  Vashon Island landfill borrow pit
• Private Lands Document and incorporate the
  public benefit that climate friendly land
  management activities provide.

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Recent Storm EventsJanuary 2009
Snoqualmie Valley Farmland
Hyak Ski Area
Snoqualmie Falls
Downtown Snoqualmie
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Conclusion

• We can and must plan with less than perfect
  information
• Focus on reducing vulnerabilities and risks
• Establish institutions and partnerships to deal
  with climate change impacts on an ongoing basis
• Remain flexible and expect surprises
• Mitigation and adaptation are urgently needed now

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References
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• Contact
• Matt Kuharic
• King County Department of Natural Resources and
  Parks
• 206-296-8738
• matt.kuharic_at_kingcounty.gov

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Preparing for Climate Change Suggested Steps

• Initiate a climate planning effort
• Listen to the science
• Scope the impacts to your sectors
• Build support and build a team
• Identify planning areas most affected by climate
  change
• Conduct a climate resiliency study
• Set goals and develop your plan
• Implement your plan
• Measure progress

Drawn from Preparing for Climate Change A
Guidebook for Local, Regional and State
Governments, by the Climate Impacts Group and
King County, and published by ICLEI September
2007
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Resources needed and bigger picture action

• Funding for projects like sea level rise online
  mapping tool
• More preparedness trainings for local
  governments, according to climate change impact
  areas
• A National Climate Service to provide climate
  science that is actionable for public policy and
  infrastructure decisions