Virtual workshop: CoSMoS Coastal Groundwater Hazards with Rising Seas in Puget Sound

From the Shoreline & Coastal Planners Group, a collaborative project of Washington Sea Grant and the Washington State Department of Ecology:

As sea levels rise, the shallow groundwater table in coastal communities will also rise. This slow but chronic threat can flood communities from below, damaging buried infrastructure, flooding below-grade structures, reducing storm sewer capacity, liberating pollutants, compromising foundations, and emerging above ground as an urban flood hazard that can amplify overland storm flooding. As communities develop climate adaptation plans to address sea level rise and extreme storm events, it is important to consider this additional hazard.

This workshop will:

• Provide an overview of the USGS Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) groundwater hazard products and their uses, which are now available for all Puget Sound shorelines.

• Give examples of how these products have been used for shoreline adaptation planning in California.

• Allow you to explore the tools in a hands-on demonstration for Puget Sound locations.

• Collect your feedback about how we can make these tools more useful for shoreline and coastal planning.

You can preview the information on the USGS Hazard Exposure Reporting and Analytics (HERA) web tool at usgs.gov/apps/hera. Please note: The HERA site is undergoing maintenance and is expected to be back the week of July 8.

• View the groundwater hazard data in the Multi-hazard viewer.

• View the community exposure metrics in the Coastal Groundwater tool.

Workshop logistics:

• This workshop is free to attend.

• Registration will be capped at 60 participants. Email Sydney Fishman (sfishma@uw.edu) to join the waitlist if registration is full.

• For those who are unable to attend, we will share a recording of the presentation portion of the workshop and post workshop materials on the SCPG website.

• 2.5 AICP CM credits will be offered for this workshop.

• Contact Sydney Fishman at sfishma@uw.edu with any questions.

Learn more and register here.