| | | A runner passes rising waters along the Mill Valley-Sausalito Path, a multi-use trail in Marin County, California that skirts an inlet of San Francisco Bay. A king tide on February 7, 2020, pushed the bay to one of its highest levels of the year. Photo © Brett Walton/Circle of Blue |
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| As bay levels rise, so do groundwater levels along one of the most developed shorelines on the West Coast. Even before it comes to the surface, rising groundwater works casts a net of damage. |
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| | | Marin County, California. Photo © Brett Walton/Circle of Blue |
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| Discover the link between rising seas, groundwater, and flooding in the San Francisco Bay Area with Dr. Kristina Hill, a professor at University of California, Berkeley. |
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Last month was the wettest February ever recorded in the United Kingdom, and more rain is expected over the next week, warns the country’s Met Office. Torrential rainfall flooded hundreds of homes, and many residents are frustrated at the government’s lack of response.
Averaged across the country, more than 202 millimeters (8 inches) of rain fell last month, exceeding the previous February record of 193.4 millimeters (7.6 inches). |
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What's Up With Water - March 2, 2020
For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud.
This week's episode features coverage on lawmakers in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, who have drafted the country’s first law for the human right to water.
For news in the United States, an Oklahoma district judge ruled that temporary water well permits which state regulators allowed to a large-scale poultry operation were illegal. Additional coverage looks at a federal court in Ohio, which struck down a landmark city ordinance that granted legal rights to Lake Erie. You can listen to the latest edition of What's Up With Water, as well as all past editions, by downloading the podcasts on iTunes, following Circle of Blue on Spotify, following on iHeart Radio, and subscribing on SoundCloud. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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| | | A map that hangs in the conference room of Fair Bluff’s rebuilt town hall shows, in blue, the sections of town that flooded during Hurricane Matthew. Commercial buildings are colored orange and homes are shaded pink. The dark squiggle in the upper left is the Lumber River. The same homes and businesses flooded again during Hurricane Florence. Photo © Brett Walton/Circle of Blue |
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| The twin calamities of Hurricane Michael and Hurricane Florence crushed souls in a small town already being eroded by economic, demographic, and technological trends that are causing a slow motion disaster in rural America. Home to nearly 1,200 people two decades ago and some 900 people before the storms, Fair Bluff now has about 600 residents, according to Al Leonard, the part-time town manager.
The town lacks the financial reserves and economic footing to rebuild on its own. Its tax base is shrinking. Its aging sewer system, overwhelmed by underground infiltration, was such a financial drain that the town bank account was overdrawn at one point. Numerous residents who were asked to reflect on changes since the storms called Fair Bluff a “dead town.” There’s no bank. No hardware store. Few places for commerce. |
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