Flood risk mitigation project will improve resilience to sea level rise in California’s disadvantaged Bayside community.
Imperial Beach, California: $15.16 Million
This is a Justice40 project.
History
Imperial Beach, California, a residential beach city in San Diego County, is the southernmost city in California and along the west coast. The beach town is known for beach volleyball, surfing, and body boarding. But while Imperial Beach is a tourism hub, much of the community is vulnerable to sea level rise hazards. As a result of the forecasted impacts from climate change, specifically 3.5 feet of sea level rise by 2070, without any mitigation, 53% of the vulnerable, disadvantaged Bayside neighborhood community residences and critical infrastructure including local roadways, sewer pump stations, stormwater drains, and a Transportation Lifeline (Highway SR-75) will be significantly damaged.
Project Description
The disadvantaged Bayside Community located in the northern portion of the city of Imperial Beach currently experiences significant damage to existing structures and street closures from coastal/rainfall flooding hazards. The construction of the Bayside Community Resiliency: The Living Levee Project by the city of Imperial Beach will mitigate risk to the following Bayside Community Lifelines: Safety and Security; Food, Water and Shelter; and Transportation. The project is an innovative nature-based solution which implements a living levee and stormwater retention and wetland system to mitigate current flooding hazards and future sea level rise hazards to the disadvantaged Bayside Community. The project will also protect critical infrastructure and preserve coastal resources. The city has been conducting extensive outreach and coordination, engaging with local, regional and state partners to ensure that there is firm support of the project to enable its development. The city also plans to leverage existing partnerships with non-profit organizations, the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative and The San Diego Foundation, and its existing partnership with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.