Olympia Climate Program Director Dr. Pamela Braff updated the 2023 Sea Level Rise Response Collaborative work plan to the public.
With a more than $200,000 budget, Braff said the plan includes several key initiatives, such as installing a tide gauge, conducting a groundwater study, holding a land subsidence survey, and researching financing mechanisms.
At the Sea Level Rise Executive Committee meeting on Friday, June 2, Braff said work plan items are underway, except for the land subsidence survey, which is currently on hold.
Braff said the Port of Olympia is leading this project under executive services director Lisa Parks, who will be the new Tumwater City administrator in July.
"She [Parks] is no longer supporting the staff team, so the land subsidence survey is on a temporary hold until we figure out who from the Port will pick up the project and move it further," Braff explained.
Wendy Steffensen, project manager for the groundwater study, stated that the LOTT would assess the impact of sea level rise on groundwater in downtown Olympia.
The purpose of the study includes:
"All of this will help inform decisions about the adaptation measures outlined in the plan," Steffensen said.
The project manager informed the committee members that the work would be in three phases.
In phase 1, which will be happening from July to September 2023, Steffensen said there would be an evaluation of existing groundwater data, wells, and reports that would be used to create a map.
"We will be able to see what data gaps we have, and filling those data gaps will be phase 2," Steffensen said, adding that phase 1 will cost about $55,884.
Phase 2 will happen over the winter, with the cost still to be determined.
"We don't know at this point what those data gaps will be…we maybe fill those with installing new wells," Steffensen explained.
After filling the data gaps, they will move to phase 3. Steffensen said they would expect a thorough groundwater evaluation and look at adaptation measures. The cost would be about $50,000.
According to Braff, a $100,000 fund is set aside for this specific project, which will sufficiently cover the first phase.
She mentioned that it is still uncertain whether the fund will be enough for the second phase of filling data gaps due to a lack of clarity on where the data gaps are and how much that will be.
Braff added that phase 3 is not planned, but the work will start in 2024, and they would include its funding in the 2024 work plan and budget proposal.
Susan Clark, Olympia Engineering and Planning supervisor, said they had installed a tide gauge at the Port of Olympia shipping berth on the pilings. She said they are working through the mechanics of operating the tide gauge.
"We are on point to be operational and collecting data by the fall king tides that start to happen," Clark said.
Rich Hoey, Olympia's assistant city manager, discussed hiring a consultant to help with funding and governance in response to sea level rise.
Hoey said the estimated cost of protecting critical infrastructure, including downtown and the LOTT plant, over the next 30 years ranges between $190 million to $350 million in 2018 dollars.
"A very large investment will be needed to protect our downtown. We need to start looking at options for how we would support that," Hoey said, adding they started drafting a request for proposals (RFP) with a $50,000 total budget for the project's initial phase.
Hoey shared the proposed scope of work for RFP:
Identify other structures or means to fund SLR Plan strategies and investments.
5 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Claire
I truly wonder when people will realize there is NOTHING that can be done to forestall climate change/sea level rise. It is a geologic occurrence and happens regularly, geologically. The idea that humans can stop "Climate Change " is a political and economic fallacy.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Report this
TheVirtualOne
Claire, while you are correct about the fact that we can not stop climate change/sea level rise, we can begin mitigating the effects of it. Looking at the Netherlands, about 70% of their population lives below sea level. They are experts at flood control. The City of Olympia should be looking to the Dutch for expertise and assistance in dealing with water management issues due to rising sea levels.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Report this
Southsoundguy
Downtown is all fill. It was never truly land to begin with. If they were serious they could just dredge more.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Report this
olyhiker
The city needs to quit building downtown where we know it will be underwater. It's crazy.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Report this
RetiredPoliceChief
According to the person assigned to manage the climate, Braff stated, "there are several options, including increasing property, sales, private utility or municipal utility tax rates. Getting down to levels of specific actions and how much it’s going to cost, particularly when you don’t know where technology is going over the next 20 years and when you don’t know what level of state and federal funding is going to be available, there are a lot of unknowns. It makes it hard to come up with some of those numbers.”
https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article273250320.html
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Report this