Lessons from another year of Puget Sound flooding must be embraced

Seattle Times editorial by Dan Siemann, the Senior Environmental Policy Specialist for the National Wildlife Federation's Western Natural Resource Center in Seattle: This isn't the first time Puget Sound rivers have flooded, and it most certainly won't be the last.

…There are a variety of reasons for the recent rash of destructive flooding, some less obvious than others. The most obvious reason is that our climate is changing. Global warming is a term that doesn't quite describe what's really happening. A more appropriate term might be climate disruption. Our climate is becoming more volatile and more variable, leading to extreme weather events and increased weather-related disasters.

…The less obvious reasons for the region's repeated flooding problems are loss of natural floodplains and reliance on engineered stormwater systems.

Storms wouldn't be such a problem if we kept our buildings and communities out of floodplains. Floodplains are nature's way of managing stormwater — think of them as built-in safety valves. They absorb excess flow, slow it down, and help trap impurities before they reach the Sound. However, instead of allowing natural systems to manage stormwater, we've destroyed floodplains, built levees, channeled rivers, and constructed concrete stormwater systems that are typically designed to handle a 100-year flood.

…While the mandated changes must be implemented, they won't be enough to prevent devastating and costly flood damage in the future. The Puget Sound region must prepare for stronger and more frequent storms, and it must rethink how it manages stormwater. This will mean updating many of our state and local codes, regulations and laws to incorporate the impacts of climate change.

…We must also rely more on natural approaches to managing stormwater, not only preventing development in sensitive areas, but also encouraging low-impact-development approaches that enhance the land's natural ability to absorb, cleanse and manage stormwater….

Puget Sound at sunset, shot by Vladimir Menkov, Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License