Climate Bill Could Leave Communities High and Dry

May 13, 2010 | Greening Water Infrastructure, Global Warming, Stormwater & Sewage, Water Supply, Floods & Floodplains

Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman released their long-awaited climate and energy bill today with the backing of numerous businesses and environmental organizations. After seven months of hard work and negotiations, the Senators should be commended for producing the American Power Act, which would set the nation on a path towards a clean energy future. The bill would place the first ever price on global warming pollution and spur the investments that are needed to move the country away from its reliance on dirty energy sources and avoid the worst impacts of a changing climate.

However, the bill needs to do much more to assist the communities that will be on the front lines of adapting to climate change. Across the nation, cities and towns are beginning to experience more frequent droughts and floods, worsening water pollution and a host of other impacts due to climate change. As these problems grow, cash-strapped communities that are already struggling to repair and upgrade existing infrastructure are faced with the additional burden of preparing for a more volatile and uncertain climate. Adaptation costs for water and wastewater utilities alone could approach $1 trillion by 2050.

On the positive side, the American Power Act includes natural resources adaptation provisions that will help sustain wildlife and vital ecosystems in a changing climate. By protecting and restoring the forests, wetlands, rivers and floodplains that provide clean water and control floods, we are also protecting our first line of defense against a more volatile and uncertain climate. And while funding for natural resources adaptation needs to be increased, its inclusion is a positive step.

But the bill does not provide the vital funding to help communities adapt their water infrastructure to a changing climate. A number of the adaptation programs included in previous bills were stripped completely. The Kerry-Boxer bill (S. 1733) includes provisions that would encourage states to begin planning for climate change impacts and provide resources for communities to start implementing projects that would make them more resilient to a changing climate. In particular it would have provided resources to help water and wastewater utilities and flood managers adapt their operations to a shifting climate. Importantly, these programs prioritized green, non-structural solutions that will provide the greatest flexibility for adapting to an uncertain climate.

While the nation works to reduce carbon pollution over the coming decades, adaptation will be the primary defense against an increasingly volatile climate. Failing to provide communities with resources for adaptation will leave them vulnerable to the crippling floods and droughts that we have witnessed with increasing frequency in recent years. We must begin incorporating adaptation into the full range of infrastructure, land use and regulatory decisions, and we must move away from the traditional focus on costly, single-purpose infrastructure systems that cannot be easily adapted to changing conditions. We must first and foremost prioritize green infrastructure solutions that function in a wide range of conditions – from wetter to drier - and can be adjusted as the climate shifts.

Water and wastewater utilities across the country are echoing this message that we cannot address climate change without strong water adaptation measures. The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, which represents many of the water suppliers that will struggle to adapt to less reliable water supplies noted: “We cannot wait for the tap to run dry before we address these problems…Water systems are on the front lines of climate change adaptation, and need to begin planning for the next several decades now.” The American Public Works Association, the American Water Works Association, the Association of California Water Agencies, the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, and the Water Environment Federation have all joined us in the call for effective water adaptation.

We urge Senators to include community adaptation provisions in comprehensive climate and energy legislation as they move forward. We urgently need to begin preparing for a changing climate, and telling communities that they’re on their own in this struggle isn’t the right message.

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