Projected SLR in Monterey, CA (in blue)

The California Ocean Protection Council, has released a draft resolution that calls for state agencies to account for sea level rise (SLR) of up to 55 inches by 2100 in their planning processes. They based their SLR projections on a publication by Vermeer and Rahmstorf in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

A 100-year storm event coupled with SLR caused by climate change could cause as much as $100 billion in property damage and put 480,000 people at risk. These numbers come from a study by the Pacific Institute that estimates the impact of SLR on California’s coasts.

Guidelines such as these are important as it allows numerous agencies across the state to use one standard set of numbers in their planning process for climate change impacts.

With infrastructure designed to last hundreds of years, accounting for potential impacts from future climate change now ensures that money and effort for construction and planning projects isn’t wasted sitting underwater.