From Rockaway to Riverdale, most of New York City is bordered by water, and that water is rising at a very steady rate as increasing global temperatures continue to melt the ice caps. “We are going to see sea-level rise, regardless of whether we completely cut off the emissions spigot,” explains Robert Freudenberg, vice president of the energy and environment program at the Regional Plan Association. “We are going to have to deal with the consequences of flooding. We will see these things—we’re locked in. The models tell us that it’s just a matter of how soon we’ll see them.”
For more than 90 years, the nonprofit Regional Plan Association has been endeavoring to improve the quality of life for people in the tristate region; in his role, Freudenberg works to ensure that we are prepared for anything climate change can throw at us. In fact, rising waters are the top concern. Available models predict a three- to six-foot increase in sea levels over the next 50 to 100 years—and that’s the best-case scenario.
“Because NYC is built on fill with a lot of protective walls around it, three feet of water is not going to affect New York City as much as it affects the suburbs and the region,” says Freudenberg. “Three feet will affect pockets of the city, but the majority of the city will probably—and this is all ‘probably’—be okay.” But some areas, including Jamaica Bay, LaGuardia Airport, the Staten Island waterfront, and portions of both Long Island City and Brooklyn, could be subject to daily flooding by 2050, Freudenberg stresses.
The Regional Planning Association map forecasts NYC land lost to sea level rise
Photograph: Courtesy Regional Planning Association
The destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy exposed many of the potential dangers our infrastructure may face in the future. After the storm, the tristate area received a glut of federal funds for disaster relief. Our wastewater facilities and drainage system were designed with a much lower high-tide level in mind, so retrofitting them is the first big job. After all, if they are breached, the city would be literally submerged in its own filth.
While many of us may picture enormous concrete seawalls, the preparations being made to protect us are often subtle and, in the case of Brooklyn’s Domino Park, quite beautiful. Opened in June, the green space was raised several feet during construction, creating a barrier against storm surges so that any floodwater now drains back into the East River. Even better, the park’s plants were chosen specifically because of their resiliency in the face of these conditions.
“There is a bit of hubris in thinking that we can always beat back the water,” says Freudenberg. “At some point, we are going to have to compromise.”
