Impact of a Changing Climate: "Stormwater infrastructure needs to be re-envisioned," says editorial in Detroit Free Press after historic 24-hour rainfall

Editorial: Re-envision infrastructure in wake of historic rainfall

“Metro Detroit’s sewers need billions in work, the ability for communities to pay for that work is limited, and thanks to climate change, it’s likely to get worse,” stated an editorial in the Detroit Free Press on August 12, 2014.

“What this should prompt is a broadscale recognition that our infrastructure needs to be re-envisioned, that we need to spend a lot more money repairing our region’s crumbling underpinnings. And that we should prioritize alternate ways of managing storm water, like green and blue infrastructure, which offer cheaper ways of managing storm water overflows.”

Build Systems to be Resilient

Jeffrey Andresen, an associate professor of geography at Michigan State University who also serves as the state climatologist, says that for the last 50 years, heavy rain events have been happening more frequently across the Midwest. “It’s not a large increase, but it’s measurable,” he said.

“We’re going to have to build our systems to be more resilient to basically cope with changing variability. Variability is a key, key issue for us as a society.”

To Learn More:

To read the complete editorial in the Detroit Free Press, click on Editorial: Re-envision infrastructure in wake of historic rainfall