Hampton Roads is particularly at risk from changing climate conditions, facing issues with sinking land, outdated stormwater infrastructure and one of the nation’s highest rates of sea level rise.
Local leaders say the region’s vulnerability also makes it uniquely positioned to serve as a testbed for climate solutions.
“This area has always been a bit of a testing ground for different ideas, particularly in this environmental space,” said Justin Shafer, coastal resilience manager for the city of Norfolk.
They now want to formalize that concept with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Norfolk recently requested the Army Corps designate its local district as a national “Proving Ground.”
The Corps operates a handful of Proving Grounds around the country through Engineering with Nature, a relatively new arm of the agency meant to support flooding infrastructure that also benefits the surrounding environment. Other sites include Philadelphia, San Francisco and St. Louis.
The designation doesn’t come with any funding. Norfolk chief resilience officer Kyle Spencer said the goal is to become a hub of research and collaboration.
Local universities and environmental nonprofits across the region “are all kind of working in different aspects of this type of work,” Spencer said. “I think this will help us all pull it together and work more collaboratively under one umbrella.”
The effort is tied to Hampton Roads’ ongoing work on a series of Coastal Storm Risk Management projects.
The Army Corps developed the CSRM program following Hurricane Sandy, which devastated communities along the East Coast in 2012 and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage. Congress directed the Corps to study how it could protect coastal communities from the next Sandy.
Storm protection projects are now underway across the coast, including Charleston and New York City. Norfolk’s is the furthest along and will include a flagship floodwall, new pump stations, tide gates and home elevations.
Shafer said the city wants to incorporate as many natural features in the project as possible, such as living shorelines, oyster reefs and reconstructed wetlands.
Getting technical expertise from the team at Engineering with Nature would help guide how to do that, as well as allow other regions to learn from what Norfolk does, he said.
For example, the city plans to build massive storm surge barriers stretching across local waterways like at the mouth of the Lafayette River. Local environmental groups have raised concerns about how such structures could impact the surrounding ecosystem and trap in pollution when the gates are closed.
Shafer said Norfolk shares those concerns and hopes becoming a Proving Ground will allow them to study the issue further.
“As sea level rises and coastal storms increase in intensity, duration and frequency, these systems will be operated on a more frequent basis which may exacerbate degradation of ecosystems,” the city wrote in its application to the Corps.
The range of projects “within this one region will provide an excellent opportunity to monitor the impact of these systems and to develop nature- and technology-based adaptive management practices to mitigate their impacts.”
The Proving Ground would especially help other Hampton Roads localities that are in earlier stages of the CSRM process.
Virginia Beach is working on a three-year study to determine which flooding solutions are feasible there. The city of Hampton is also leading an assessment of risk across the Peninsula including Newport News, Williamsburg, Poquoson and James City and York counties.
The Army Corps’ Norfolk District is working on a memorandum to send Engineering with Nature in support of the local Proving Ground, spokesperson Haley Brown said in an email. No further approvals would be required.
“The Norfolk District recognizes the value of delivering systems-based, holistic solutions to address complex water resource challenges faced by coastal communities,” Brown wrote.
