Enhancing resilience of underserved coastal communities against sea level rise induced ground flooding

The impacts of sea level rise (SLR) are of increasing concern to coastal communities along the California coast. Challenges, especially those related to marine inundation and groundwater shoaling, can both significantly diminish the drainage capacity of coastal communities and increase vulnerability to flooding, especially for underserved communities with inadequate infrastructure. There is a knowledge gap in understanding the processes through which SLR is likely to disrupt urban drainage infrastructure below the ground, for several kilometers away from the coastline. USC Sea Grant funded a study to understand the vulnerability of urban infrastructure in underserved coastal communities in California against compound flooding and groundwater shoaling. The study will specifically work with the underserved community of Imperial Beach to address these vulnerabilities.

Key Results:

  • Completed the stakeholder survey and a literature review on flooding and sewer overflows in the low-income community of Imperial Beach. Results on sewer system impacts were published. 
  • Results show that SLR will increase the sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) risks substantially further inland through enlarging groundwater contribution. More challengingly, SSO events are exacerbated by rainfall. 
  • The project is developing a robust AI model to automatically detect the anomalies/defects in a sewer system. The model will be able to save thousands of man-hours in the inspection of sewer systems and make it more cost-effective for municipalities to have a resilient underground system against rising groundwater that can cause massive amounts of inflow into the pipes

 

Project Impacts & Application:

  • A green infrastructure social survey was developed and shared with various community residents and business owners
  • Presentation at American Geophysical Union’s Meeting and EWRI Meeting

 

Principal Investigator:

  • Hassan Davani, Ph.D., San Diego State University
  • Megan Welsh, Ph.D., San Diego State University

 

Funding:

NOAA, 2022-2024

 

Additional Info:

  • Sangsefidi, Y., Barnes, A., Merrifield, M., & Davani, H. (2023). Data-driven analysis and integrated modeling of climate change impacts on coastal groundwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure. Sustainable Cities and Society, 99, 104914-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104914

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