Sea Rise Threatens Oakland's Sewer System

[marmar]

Oakland Local/New America Media, News Report, Barbara Grady, Posted: Jun 12, 2014

OAKLAND, Calif. --The shoreline along Oakland is a checkerboard quilt of cement, steel and wetlands, with grassy estuaries sandwiched between walls of cement where old terminal buildings rise from the shore, steel pipes send effluent to the Bay and massive containership berths receive their payload.

Just inland from this quilt lies a broad north-south strip of railroad and highway.
Only after all that, nearly a mile from the shore, lie residential neighborhoods, block after block of shoebox size houses in an area known locally as the flatlands.

Their distance from the shoreline leads many residents here into thinking of sea level rise as a remote issue not likely to affect them, based on random interviews when a question about flooding caused people to laugh or raise an eyebrow and point to the scorching sun in drought-worried California.

But it is precisely these flatland neighborhoods that are likely to be flooded – and not only with water but also with a toxic stew of industrial runoff and sewage – when the Bay’s sea level rises or a global warming -induced storm occurs, say ecologists and area planners who have looked at the problem. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://newamericamedia.org/2014/06/oakland-at-risk-of-severe-floods---not-just-water-but-sewage.php

[xchrom]

1. my beloved oakland. nt