NEW YORK—There are ultimately only three options for dealing with sea-level rise in New York City, according to Klaus Jacob of Columbia University’s Seismology Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
The first is storm surge barriers, but he dislikes this idea because they would only function for 50 to 80 years, a “temporary” solution. The second is accommodation: putting buildings on stilts and putting infrastructure on top of roofs instead of in basements.
Jacob, however, advocates a third option. “The last thing is retreat,” he told members of the Transportation Research Board Tuesday. “Retreat is the ultimate solution.”
Jacob, a now retired white-bearded scientist, has been involved with more than eight reports on how the sea level rises each year and a changing climate in general in the city. He predicted the flooding of subway tunnels in a report last year.
“Luckily New York City has topography,” he said, mentioning Prospect Park, and graveyards. “I think we have to switch the living and the dead,” he added. “It sounds brutal, but I’m sure the living sooner or later will agree.”
Jacob says that the real cost of Sandy, when looking back later on, will be $40 billion to $60 billion (Gov. Cuomo has asked for $42 billion). Reports proved accurate when Sandy hit. With a benefit to cost ratio of $4 saved down the road through $1 spent now, “You could have easily fixed these problems with $10 billion,” he said.
The research board’s Waste Management and Resource Efficiency Committee held a meeting on Dec. 4 about water.
Later on attendees learned how other cities and countries—Venice, Antigua, London, and the Netherlands—have and are coping with water.
