Climate change is happening and its impacts are being seen throughout San Mateo County. With record high temperatures, increasingly intense and less predictable storms, longer periods of drought and rising seas, communities in San Mateo are recognizing the need to take action. Read on to learn more about what risks San Mateo County residents face and and what cities are doing to mitigate the effects of climate change.
How Are Communities in San Mateo County at Risk to Climate Change?
According to the San Mateo County Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment released in 2018 by the Office of Sustainability, our county is the most at-risk to climate change among all counties in the state, and one of the most at-risk in the nation. Globally, the impacts of climate change are well known, including melting ice caps, heat waves, and increased precipitation. Here on the peninsula, communities are particularly at risk to the impacts of sea level rise because many homes, businesses, roads and infrastructure are built right at the edge of the Bay and ocean. In fact, the report found that under long term (50-100 years) conditions, as much as $39.1 billion of property may be at risk to flooding damage. This damage spreads to homes, businesses, critical infrastructure (police stations, hospitals, and schools), as well as regional transportation networks like Highway 101, BART, Caltrain and the San Francisco International Airport.
The study also suggests that increased rain may have additive effects, where runoff during storms may worsen downstream flooding, increase erosion of coastal areas, and carry pollutants that seriously harm water quality. To address the rainwater side of the climate change equation, Flows to Bay and the countywide stormwater program are focusing local efforts to develop green infrastructure plans in the coming year. The building of vegetated stormwater curb extensions and rain gardens are just some examples of nature-based solutions that help reduce flooding, filter stormwater runoff and often offers less expensive alternatives to replacing and upgrading sewer mains or making other improvements to traditional, “gray” infrastructure.
What’s the Plan For Adaptation in San Mateo County Moving Forward?
With the information gathered from the county’s sea level rise vulnerability report, the next steps are to get local planning processes in place to help communities plan for climate adaptation. Part of that work will involve updating and improving local planning policies, but with a challenge as big as climate change, big plans are in order. With newly awarded state funds, the county is now looking broader than just sea level rise. There is a current project in the works to evaluate the risk of other aspects of a changing climate, focusing specifically on potential effects on the transportation network. This work will expand on the vulnerability assessment and also evaluate the possible harm to the transportation network in local communities from more intense storms, extreme heat, fires and flooding.
Flows to Bay is also happy to announce the countywide stormwater program has been awarded nearly $1 million under the same grant program to develop a sustainable streets master plan for the whole county. “What’s a sustainable streets master plan?” you might ask. Well, in a nutshell, it’s a comprehensive look at all the possible places in the county that could be locations for green stormwater infrastructure and a prioritization process to match those potential sites with community priorities, including bike and pedestrian improvements, ADA sidewalk improvements, safe travel routes to schools, flood prone areas and more. This effort will support the cities, towns and the county in creating green infrastructure plans and it will build on the county’s efforts to address the real hazards of climate change in our region.
To learn more about the county’s sea level rise vulnerability assessment, visit Sea Change San Mateo County. To dig deeper on green infrastructure and related stormwater efforts within San Mateo, check out our other blog post on green infrastructure or visit our Green Streets page! And stay tuned for more about how San Mateo County is getting climate change-ready.
