Thursday, April 10, 2014

Audio portion of WASD Doug Yoder during yesterday's EPA webinar on climate change adaptation … by gimleteye

Doug Yoder yesterday spoke for fifteen minutes on a nation-wide EPA webinar on climate change issues. Yoder is a longtime executive with Miami-Dade Water and Sewer. Perhaps WASD will provide EOM with a PDF of the slides that Mr. Yoder used. Here is a link to an audio portion of the webinar:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtke1j9pd5itdc9/climate%20ready.mp3

It is unclear whether WASD's assurance that it is planning infrastructure investment to account for 3 feet of sea level rise by 2075 is actually part of the consent agreement that EPA and the county proposes in federal court, or, whether it is still just a verbal assurance.

Minute 3:40 -- making assumptions of 3 feet rise by 2075 in sea level, based on US Army Corps of Engineers. (A little over one foot of sea level rise in 30 years.)

Minute 8:35 -- Storm-proofing water treatment plants: talks about $8 - $10 billion to reconstruct water treatment plants by relocation in order to avoid storm surges.

Minute 10:25 -- Highest priority is to protect hydraulic flow "even if it doesn't get treatment it would normally get" under storm surge conditions.

Minute 11:15 -- "We are going to incorporate predicted sea level rise storm surge into those planning efforts (to conform with CWA litigation), investments we are agreed we need to be made …"

Minute 12:10 -- Salt water intrusion issues.

Minute 13:00 -- USGS sophisticated ground water model, to forecast what will happen as sea level rises. "At least through 2045 we should not experience significant salt water intrusion so long as our drainage system continues to work."

Minute 14:45 -- Adaptive planning approach depends on monitoring.

Minute 15:50 -- Cost of insurance rising in coastal areas to the point that people can no longer afford to live there, and the extent to which local extreme weather events cause population movements. Viability of Southeast Florida as a place to live.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doug Yoder ... Isn't he the guy who retired with a full pension and then was immediately rehired at the county by John Renfrow so that he could have a full salary AND a full pension?

Anonymous said...

In Miami Dade anything is possible.

Anonymous said...

Back then you only had to wait one month before you could be re-hired. Now it's a year.
Since Renfrow had no knowledge of water issues, he brought Yoder on as one of his two deputy directors. At a $200K+ salary.

Btw, Renfrow's salary was $215K; Bill Johnson's salary at the Port was $250K - wonder what he's making as new WASD Director?