Water Resources by Region or State
This tab includes all resources relevant to adaptation in the water sector. Apply filters to view water sector resources for a particular region or state. Alternatively, use the map to explore water resources.
Resources are automatically presented by date, but can also be sorted by rating and title.
828 results are shown below.
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Resource
2020
In recent years, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), which is the city’s water utility and provides drinking water and wastewater treatment, has strongly emphasized community engagement and equity issues through the creation of a variety of organizations and programs. One organization, Connect Capital, which is comprised of SPU staff and members of a community foundation and a community organization, advises SPU on how to ensure that the benefits of future investments are equitable and address climate threats to those at risk of displacement. One result of Connect Capital’s encouragement is SPU’s investment in infrastructure in frontline communities, such as the South Park Neighborhood. Another equitable initiative under SPU is the Utility Discount Program, under which seniors, persons with disabilities, and low-income customers receive a reduction in their water and electricity bills. Households with incomes at or below 70% of state median income pay only 50% of their SPU bill. Further still, SPU’s Environmental Justice and Service Equity Division aims to promote inclusive community engagement and collaboration.
Related Organizations: Seattle Public Utilities
Resource Category: Solutions
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July 29, 2020
The impacts of climate change disproportionately affect overburdened and low-income individuals and communities of color that already face significant economic and social challenges. The cumulative impacts of pollution, racism, and political and economic disenfranchisement make it difficult for these communities to withstand and recover from extreme heat, flooding, and other climate impacts. To help communities address the challenges of climate resilience and social inequality, the Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) partnered with leading experts and practitioners to develop the Equitable Adaptation Legal & Policy Toolkit, a comprehensive online resource to help state and local governments work with communities on climate adaptation solutions that put frontline communities first.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Joel Smith , Georgetown Climate Center , Tiffany Ganthier , Lisa Hamilton , Annie Bennett , Katherine McCormick , Anne Perrault, Joel B. Smith, Sara Hoverter , Jennifer Li , Jessica Grannis
Resource Category: Solutions
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The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) offers an Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program to provide both technical and financial assistance to help local communities and individual landowners recover from disaster events that impair a watershed. The EWP Program provides two assistance program options for Recovery and Floodplain Easements. All EWP Program funding is provided to NRCS through Congressional appropriations. EWP Program funding offers the benefit of providing potentially faster and greater geographic coverage support for disaster-impacted communities because while a disaster event is required for eligibility, a presidential disaster declaration is not.
Related Organizations: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Resource Category: Funding
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2017
The City of Philadelphia created the Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) in 2017 in order to address water affordability for low income communities. In Philadelphia, water affordability is an issue that affects a large number of families - between April 2012 and January 2018, 40% of households either had unpaid bills or some other sort of water debt. To address this issue, the Philadelphia Water Department implemented TAP, a program that allows customers to pay water bills at a percent of their income - this payment is capped at 3%. Through this program’s fixed rates, Philadelphians who are struggling to pay their water bill can budget more accurately and access more affordable water, which is predicted to result in increased payment rates and reduced water debts.
Related Organizations: City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Resource Category: Solutions
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July 2020
In July 2020, the US Water Alliance released the report Water Rising: Equitable Approaches to Urban Flooding . The Report focuses on providing best practices for equitable solutions to flood control and resilience. It proposes five priority actions that policymakers can undertake to achieve this work: using data to identify risks, assets, and community vulnerabilities; committing to ongoing and meaningful community engagement; setting a proactive vision and building strategic alignment with that vision; fully incorporating equity into any resilience planning processes; and emphasizing that investors target frontline communities.
Related Organizations: U.S. Water Alliance, The Kresge Foundation
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 2, 2020
The North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan is the state’s first climate change adaptation plan. It includes the results of vulnerability assessments within 11 critical sectors, climate justice concerns and strategies, and recommendations for nature-based solutions to enhance ecosystem resiliency and sequester carbon in the state’s natural and working lands. North Carolina Governor Cooper’s 2018 Executive Order 80 directed state agencies to integrate climate adaptation and resiliency planning into their policies, programs, and operations; and mandated that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) lead the development of this climate risk assessment and resiliency plan for the state.
Related Organizations: State of North Carolina
Resource Category: Planning
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June 2020
Colorado has advanced recovery resources, but the state's risk profile will continue to increase in the coming years. The state did not have a tool to quantify the cost of future risks, until now. The Future Avoided Cost Explorer or "FACE:Hazards" tool includes a suite of resources that will enable local decisionmakers to evaluate the costs of future risks from flooding, drought, and wildfire across seven economic sectors over different climate and population projections between today and 2050.
Related Organizations: Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) , Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Resource Category: Data and tools
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March 31, 2020
The City of Virginia Beach, Virginia Sea Level Wise Adaptation Strategy is designed to help guide the city’s steps to become more resilient and adapt to sea level rise and flooding by gradually implementing actions through a watershed-based approach. Virginia Beach consists of four watersheds, both inland and coastal, that are characterized by unique physical properties and land-use patterns and affected by five distinct types of flooding - high tide, wind tide, storm surge, rainfall/compounding, and groundwater flooding.
Related Organizations: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Planning
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February 22, 2020
Climate Ready Missoula is an adaptation-focused plan that identifies the greatest climate risks that Missoula County, Montana faces and the potential steps the community can take to address these risks. Formed in collaboration with community organizations and individuals, the plan includes a discussion of climate change projections and scenarios, vulnerability assessments of Missoula County, climate adaptation goals and strategies, and next steps for implementation of the plan. The plan also outlines 12 guiding principles to help focus implementation efforts going forward; the principles emphasize the importance of equity, cultural values, collaboration, science-informed and proactive decisionmaking, ecosystem valuation and cost-benefit analysis, and innovation.
Related Organizations: Missoula County, Montana, City of Missoula, Montana, Climate Smart Missoula
Resource Category: Planning
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The Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP) was established through funding from the U.S. Government’s Office of Economic Opportunity in the 1960s. The Project helps low-income rural communities in the mid-Atlantic and the Southeastern U.S. obtain water and wastewater infrastructure for running water, indoor plumbing, and wastewater treatment. Water utilities in these rural areas often lack funding to provide such infrastructure. Households that are not supplied with drinking water tend to rely on wells and septic tanks, which can get contaminated by pollution from agricultural activity and the lack of suitable wastewater treatment. SERCAP assists both individuals and municipalities, and its services include installing infrastructure, providing financing and loans, and offering technical support. In addition to providing services related to water, SERCAP also provides support on housing issues.
Resource Category: Organizations
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