America’s Aging Flood Control Infrastructure is Failing
Date Posted: May 16, 2023
Posted In: Environment/Sustainability,
From KSDK: Heavy downpours and a thick snowpack in the Western mountains and Upper Midwest have put communities in several states at risk of flooding this spring – or already under water.
Flooding is the costliest type of natural disaster in the U.S., responsible for about 90% of the damage from natural disasters each year. It happens almost every day somewhere in the country.
Yet, much of the aging infrastructure meant to protect U.S. communities is in bad shape and, in some cases, failing. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s dams, levees and stormwater infrastructure a D grade in its latest report card, in 2021.
Help is coming. Congress authorized billions of dollars for infrastructure projects under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. But there’s a problem: New infrastructure planning frequently relies on historical flood patterns for its benchmarks rather than forecasts of changing risks as the climate warms.
We study flood risks and mitigation strategies as civil and environmental engineers. As federal funding for infrastructure rolls in, communities run the risk of spending millions of dollars on systems that weren’t built to handle the flood risks ahead.
Infrastructure is failing
Much of the nation’s flood control infrastructure was designed for 20th century storms and flooding. And in many cases, stormwater systems, levees and dams are now approaching the end of their useful life, or are already well beyond it.
The nation’s river levees are 50 years old on average. Retention ponds are meant to last 20-30 years on average. Stormwater systems are also aging, and retrofits in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia are getting expensive.