Climate changes and the local environment:Over the past century, warming oceans have significantly accelerated the melting of polar ice sheets, releasing trillions of tons of freshwater into the ocean. This melt, coupled with the increased volume occupied by warm water, has gradually raised sea levels in Fairfield County. Bridgeport, one of largest cities in the county, has endured 5 inches of sea level rise since 1964. The county has also faced a real but erratic increase in annual precipitation. As global temperatures rise, the atmosphere is capable of holding more moisture, which in turn allows for more rainfall. More important than the modest trend in average precipitation in the county is a much more dramatic trend in heavy downpours since the 1950s. Torrential downpours, in addition to rising sea levels, have sharply increased the risk of flooding across Fairfield County. How we know: These reconstructions are based on easily-accessible online tools, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Tides & Currents tool, the NOAA Climate at a Glance app, as well as Climate Central’s research report. NOAA’s Tides & Currents tool generates graphs of monthly mean sea levels for individual cities and counties. These graphs use sea level data collected from one of hundreds of sea level stations across the country, and include a long-term linear trend line. NOAA’s Climate at a Glance app uses data collected at weather stations and stored in NOAA's U.S. Climate Divisions database to create graphs about temperature, precipitation, and drought. This app can generate graphs that present global, regional, and local trends. Climate Central’s Heaviest Downpours research report displays the increase in heavy downpours in the United States. At each station, a heavy downpour was defined as the top 1 percent daily precipitation amounts over the period from 1950 to 2014. The analysis is based on precipitation observations from 2,962 climate stations across the US. Human consequences:Rising sea levels, an increase in overall precipitation, and more severe storms have greatly increased Fairfield County’s risk for floods. Over 130,000 people in the state are currently at risk of inland flooding, while heavy downpours and rising sea levels have strained the County’s sewer system. This stress on the County’s unprepared infrastructure has severely impacted both human and aquatic health. In particular, the rise in rain storms has increased levels of runoff. Within Fairfield County, the city of Bridgeport operates under a combined sewer system, meaning that rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater are all transported within the same pipe. During heavy storms where the rainfall exceeds the system’s capacity, the system is designed to overflow and release excess water into nearby bodies of water. These overflows, called combined sewer overflows (CSOs), have considerable impacts on the local environment of Fairfield County. CSOs present an environmental and public health risk for the County, as the untreated wastewater that is discharged can contain bacteria, raw sewage, excess nutrients from fertilizers, and chemicals. This particularly impacted Bridgeport, as portions of the city’s sewer system were built over 100 years ago. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection found that a CSO occurs whenever there is 0.4 inches of precipitation or more. Overflows from the system occur on average every 10 days, releasing between 100,000 and 500,000 gallons of contaminated water into local rivers, streams, and harbors. With the increasing rate at which heavy downpours are taking place in Bridgeport, this leaves the public exposed to bacteria and raw sewage, creating a considerable health risk. The increasingly high levels of contamination have also undermined recreational activity, often leading to the closure of multiple beaches and parks. In Bridgeport the following parks, beaches, and harbors are constantly affected: Ash Creek, Bridgeport Harbor, Black Rock Harbor, Pequonnock Harbor, Johnson’s Creek, Yellow Mill Pond, Cedar Creek, Burr Creek, and Island Brook. Moreover, the loss of fishing grounds in Bridgeport has greatly disturbed the fishing industry. Leaked sewage has and will continue to kill tens of thousands of acres of shellfish beds. Additionally, hypoxia, or the overgrowth of algae that leads to dangerously low levels of oxygen for aquatic life, will continue to appear throughout the County as excess fertilizers enter these ecosystems. These “dead zones” are detrimental for aquatic species and will only further degrade the County’s water quality. Fairfield County, and specifically the Bridgeport Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), have already taken measures to combat the damages from CSOs. The WPCA has developed a plan to minimize the number of CSOs, and has implemented green infrastructure to prevent or delay stormwater from entering the sewer system. Although these efforts have helped reduce the number of overflows, Fairfield County nevertheless must invest in more infrastructure and a new system in order to mitigate the damages caused by stormwater runoff and severe floods. Further reading:Some CT beaches considered among the dirtiest. EyeWitness News Water quality at Bridgeport, Fairfield beaches dropped in 2016. CT Post Bridgeport plans massive sewer upgrades. CT Post Combined Sewer Overflow Guide for City Employees. Bridgeport WPCA Article author: James Loughran, Georgetown University
Article editor: Maddie Bowen, Georgetown University
2 Comments
9/11/2020 04:10:47 am
There are lots of threats to our lives, and nature is just one of them. Well, it was not supposed to be this way, but we are not really good at handling it. If we just had the responsibility and sense of awareness to not destroy our own planet, then this might not have had to happen. I hope that we can still do something about it, though. I know that if we start now, then maybe we can do it.
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