America's Most Endangered Rivers - (Page 8) “ there is hope. We have many strategies that can help healthy rivers and the communities that depend on them. wildlife, as well as people and property. ” bring emissions under control, some warming is inevitable because greenhouse gasses from the past 100 years of intense fossil fuel use will remain in the atmosphere for many decades. We must, therefore, take immediate action to help both human and natural communities adapt to inevitable climate changes by being smart about how we manage our precious freshwater resources and working with nature instead of against it. How do we adapt given the uncertainty of knowing how much the climate will change in any given place over any given time? We adapt by building resilience into communities and ecosystems so that they can withstand significant changes or disasters and respond in a productive manner. We can build resilience to the consequences of global warming by protecting and restoring healthy watersheds, increasing water conservation and efficiency and improving the quality of our infrastructure. Increase the Amount of Natural Landscapes Healthy rivers, grasslands, forests and wetlands perform a variety of essential functions for communities and wildlife. They act as natural sponges that absorb flood waters and release them during dry periods, buffering against Water Quality A changing climate poses a number of threats to clean water in our rivers and streams. Heavy rains will wash metals, toxins and other pollutants off of streets and into waterways. They will also overburden sewer systems and send raw sewage into local rivers and streams. The CatawbaWateree River of North Carolina and South Carolina, which is contaminated with untreated sewage and other pollutants, will likely experience more algal blooms and declining water quality as more water is taken by evaporation and withdrawals for human use. Sea-level rise will infiltrate coastal aquifers with salt water. These sources of pollution will in turn put drinking water supplies, vital habitat for fish and wildlife, and the recreational use of rivers at risk. Municipalities will need to invest more money and energy in infrastructure systems to protect clean water. droughts. By absorbing and slowing flood waters, they also act as barriers between storm surges and communities. Even having four to five percent wetland coverage in a watershed can reduce peak floods by 50 percent. In addition, healthy watersheds and wetlands filter water and remove pollutants. They provide untold economic benefits by raising property values and providing venues for boating, fishing, hunting and countless other recreational activities. Finally, freshwater ecosystems provide a critical refuge for fish and wildlife. More than 70 percent of all species rely upon rivers and streams for some part of their life cycle. America is still blessed with many healthy, free-flowing and intact headwaters, watersheds, wetlands and floodplains. We must preserve these intact ecosystems and promote them as a vital part of our water supply and flood protection infrastructure, especially important during an era of global warming. Counterproductive responses such as building more levees and dams should only be used where green infrastructure is proven to be insufficient. At the same time, we must rehabilitate rivers and streams that have been damaged by these misguided approaches in the past. Dams and levees impair the ability of watersheds to provide water supply, flood control and pollution reduction services, but these benefits can be recaptured by restoring degraded rivers and streams. By preserving and restoring healthy watersheds and stream channels, communities will grow more resilient and will be better able to withstand the impacts of global warming. MEL THORNTON MAPLEWOOD PUBLIC UTILITIES THE WAY FORWARD: RESILIENT COMMUNITIES Confronting global warming demands urgent action on two major fronts. We must get serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But even after we 8 A M E R I C A’ S M O S T E N DA N G E R E D R I V E R S T M : © ADOBE STOCK PHOTOS Increasing the amount of natural landscape will make communities more resilient, benefiting people and the fish and wildlife that depend on healthy rivers. 2 0 0 8 E D I T I O N | W W W. A M E R I C A N R I V E R S . O R G http://www.americanrivers.org
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