With Storms Intensifying, Milwaukee Braces for Bigger Floods

Climate change "keeps me up at night," said Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.  "Before, we had a design criteria, and Mother Nature followed a historic trend.  Now the historic trend is thrown out of whack."

The Midwest is already seeing more frequent and intense storms, with more precipitation on the way, said Don Wuebbles, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Illinois and member of the scientific team behind the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment.  Eight of the 10 wettest years for daily precipitation in the upper Midwest have happened since 1978.

And the National Climate Assessment predicts average winter and spring precipitation by late this century – 2071 to 2099 – could increase 10 to 20 percent compared to 1971-2000 for the region.
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Climate-driven stress
The district, along with The Conservation Fund, has purchased about 2,700 acres of flood-prone land around Milwaukee over the past decade. The land is in suburban areas experiencing growth. 

Higher populations and more people living in urban and suburban areas built in floodplains adds to climate-driven stress for sewerage departments, said Kelly Klima, an engineering and public policy research scientist at Carnegie Melon University. 

"Not only are they in flood-prone areas but more people increases the demand on infrastructure, which, in a lot of places, was built 100, 150 years ago," Klima said. 

The danger comes not just from downpours.  Analyses also suggest there could be more days in between the large storms with no rainfall, Wuebbles said.

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