Can the $ 119 billion wave wall protect New York?

The 9.6km long breakwater wall will protect New York from flooding during super typhoons, but critics say it is obsolete because of rising sea levels and environmental threats.

The storm is approaching New York, pushing rising sea levels into populated areas like Hurricane Sandy. It's a scenario planners hope to be able to block with artificial islands with gates - that can be closed - from Rockaways in Queens to a strip of land in New Jersey south of Staten Island, the New York Times. said.

The closed gate can create a 9.6 km long wall , helping protect people and the property inside. The giant barrier is the first choice among the 5 solutions that US Army soldiers are working on to protect New York, when the storms become more frequent and more devastating due to global warming. .

The proposals have sparked fierce debate, as New York and other coastal cities are grappling with the thorny question of transforming landscapes and lifestyles to survive rising sea levels.

Barrier supporters say this is the best solution to protect the majority of people, properties and landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty from the storm that swept across the East and Hudson Rivers, while not cutting off. off the city from the river.

Catherine McVay Hughes, who led the community council in Lower Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy, supported the fence outside New York Harbor.

'Protection measures should only be built on the coast, but high enough to avoid the biggest flood. Do you want a 6-9 m high wall between Battery Park and the river? ' She said.

Supporters like Ms. McVay Hughes are drawn to the prospect of a giant barrier that will protect much of New York from rising waves. They also say that the application of onshore solutions such as embankment, rehabilitation of wetlands, may benefit the wealthy areas first, rather than low-income communities. suffered the most damage during Super Typhoon Sandy in 2012.

Only solve the immediate problem

Despite the positive perspectives that the wall provides, environmental experts think it is a patchwork solution that solves only the immediate problem, not the optimal solution. The long-term response to the bigger threat is climate change. It even makes things worse.

Russian giant wave wall project to protect the city of St.Petersburg from flooding.(Photo: TASS).

The barrier design of the US Army Corps of Engineers only solved the problem of waves in storms. It will not be able to cope with two major threats related to climate change: rising sea levels, high tides and possibly becoming sewage reservoirs, threatening young ecosystems in New York area.

American soldiers estimate the wall is worth about $ 119 billion. It is not clear whether New York City, New York State, New Jersey and the US Congress agree to fund the project that will take 25 years to build.

Even when the construction is approved, protesters say that the retaining wall can be outdated for decades, even when it is at the construction stage. They think that the estimate of the future US Army sea level rise is too low.

'This sea barrier will not be able to protect communities from flooding due to rising sea levels. Once it is built it will be a big risk and we will not recover the money, '' Scott M. Stringer, a musician in New York, wrote in a letter protesting the plan.

The risk for the environment is too great

Clifford S. Jones III, planning director of New York, said that if there is an ecological and economically viable solution that can protect New York and New Jersey, one should promote it.

However, the construction of retaining walls at the mouth of the New York Sea will cause major environmental problems. When it rains, New York's sewage system can push waste into waterways. A large retaining wall can cause mud accumulation near the shore.

The Thames Barrier Project in London, while helping to curb floods, caused great damage to the ecological environment.(Photo: Bloomberg).

'Basically, we are sitting in the bathtub with our own poop ,' said Kimberly Ong, senior lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Environmentalists say any barrier, even when open on stormy days, will alter the flow, sediment and natural salinity in the Hudson River, affecting migration and farming. marine life.

The debate over the seawall came as New York City struggled to cope with hurricanes like Sandy and the greater need was to reshape the region's infrastructure to accommodate. Climate Change.

Over the past 7 years, since the storm killed 72 people and caused $ 62 billion in damage, city agencies have spent 54% of the $ 14.7 billion allocated by the federal government, helping the city. recover and prepare for new storms.

However, no one is sure whether the ambitious and costly technical solutions will work in the long run and what their negative effects are. There have been similar projects in the world and have shown their duality.

The complex prevents rising sea in the west of Intracoastal Bay in New Orleans.(Photo: New York Times).

An 8-kilometer revolving structure built after the deadly storm in the Netherlands in 1950 worked to curb floods, but it caused major environmental damage, altering the estuary ecosystem and swamp around. The London Thames Barrier project had similar results.

Russia built a sea wall of nearly 24 km, completed in 2010. It protected the city of St. Petersburg from a strong storm a year later.

Boston recently studied a similar barrier project in New York, but then the council refused to approve that it supported onshore solutions, such as retractable flood retaining walls, fields. ladder.

The debate over the giant wave wall project in New York is evidence of the complexity that people are facing to respond to climate change. Each solution has its advantages and disadvantages.

Supporters say protection measures by region are the most appropriate, while protesters argue that it will only benefit wealthy communities.

Paul Gallay, head of the Hudson River advocacy group, said: 'The wall is a shiny object, a silver bullet attracts us from where we need to go. The danger of a big wall is that if it fails, we are all in danger. We need layered solutions so that we don't depend on a particular project. '

The project management received thousands of objections from various aspects of the proposal and promised to hold more hearings. They pledge that any project must undergo rigorous environmental impact assessments, before being submitted to Congress no earlier than 2022.

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