# Sea level rise: will we clean the land first? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821 "2014-05-20T12:34:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/21 "2014-05-20T19:28:33Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Massive dykes…inadequate dykes…large dykes… > > Folks, unless we’re talking about the after party of an LPGA tour event, the word you’re looking for is “dikes.” 😃 Oops, sorry. My bad! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/22 "2014-05-20T20:10:16Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Can’t rebuild on water so people will slowly retreat in-land. I guess you’ve never been to [Boston, Tokyo, or Hong Kong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reclamation) or a host of other cities. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/23 "2014-05-20T20:39:03Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’d like to believe the gradual sea level rise will give plenty of time for people to pack up and move inland. Perhaps the US would give some compensation like they do for other natural disasters? > > The OP raises a good point about what will be done with existing buildings. It would be a navigation hazard to have buildings only covered by a foot or two of water. They really should be torn down. I’m not sure if there will be enough time or resources to do that. The smart people will sell out and leave a few years before the rising waters force them out. > > There are examples in recent history that can be studied. Like when the dams were built for the TVA in Tennessee. What was done to prep that area? > > On the positive side an entirely new group of people will find themselves owning highly coveted and valuable seaside coastal properties. A unique redistribution of wealth. One person’s disaster is anothers good fortune. I wonder if it’s more economical to tear down buildings and clean up the ground or retrofit existing buildings’ foundations and turn certain areas into Venice-like areas? > [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with [this site.](http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/) The melting of the West Antarctic glacier that’s in the news these days is expected to cause a 3-4 meter rise. As I’m from the SF Bay Area, I’ve been thinking about how the area will be affected… SF and Oakland Airports will both be under water. Most of the major ring of freeway around the Bay will be at or under water. Significant wetlands will be really wetlands. Most of Richmond, Emeryville, and the South Bay will be flooding. The San Joaquin Valley will probably be flooding, if we don’t do something fairly massive, like put a dam across the Carquinez Strait, which would probably cause a few shipping problems. Maybe locks would need to be installed… > > The Bay Area (and particularly San Francisco) gets drinking water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir system in the Sierras; the water travels through an open-air aqueduct near Stockton to Hayward, where it is pumped under or around the south bay to a reservoir south of San Francisco. With a 4 meter rise, significant portions of that will be under water; at 10 meters, which would call for major polar melting, the entire system will have to be rerouted around the newly-formed San Joaquin Sea. Or, we’ll need to set up huge solar arrays to power water desalinazation plants, or abandon most of the Bay Area as unlivable due to lack of drinking water. > > [Lowest Land Points Below Sea Level Map | Depression Elevations](http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/) I used to live in Sacramento so it’s interesting what the implications are for the Delta and the Sacramento deepwater ship channel. On a map, it looks like Sacramento is a safe distance from the coast, but it really isn’t, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/24 "2014-05-20T20:48:05Z")
Most of our cities look very different today from how they did 300 years ago, and in many cases occupy land that did not exist then. Manhattan is 6-15 feet higher now than it originally was; Seattle 15-30 feet. Of course we don’t plan for the future of 300 years from now; how would colonial Boston have planned effectively for the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel? It seems reasonable to me that these cities will similarly look almost unrecognizably different 300 years from now, regardless of the effects of climate change. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/25 "2014-05-20T21:18:22Z")
Lemons to lemonade, we turn those citys into underwater cities and put domes up. Market price may actually increase for some of that real estate. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/26 "2014-05-20T21:47:19Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with [this site.](http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/) I like [these](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357309/How-Americas-cities-look-centuries-sea-level-rises-predicted-scientists-prove-correct.html) images. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/27 "2014-05-20T21:47:51Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I think humanity has proven that it’s not capable of long term planning. Nothing beyond 25 to 50 years. Look at our inability to capacity plan roadways, tunnels and bridges. Some would argue it’s not cost effective to plan that far into the future and they may be right. > > So coastal cities will build inadequate dyke systems which will be overwhelmed by coastal storms. Cities will suffer catastrophic destruction. Thousands may die. Property will be destoyed. Can’t rebuild on water so people will slowly retreat in-land. > > It won’t be pretty and certainly very little prep and cleanup will happen to avoid waste poluting the ocean. Also, who’s going to pay to move dumps and sewage processing plants? Surely an actual waste dump would be remediated, I’d think. We already have superfund sites, we’ll just have more. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/28 "2014-05-20T22:28:41Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I used to live in Sacramento so it’s interesting what the implications are for the Delta and the Sacramento deepwater ship channel. On a map, it looks like Sacramento is a safe distance from the coast, but it really isn’t, is it? Open channel right from downtown to the sea, despite its otherwise protected location. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/29 "2014-05-20T22:36:23Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Open channel right from downtown to the sea, despite its otherwise protected location. And contamination of major freshwater rivers with seawater. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/30 "2014-05-22T00:57:37Z")
We will do nothing. No one would pay for it if we are abandoning the land. It will be hard enough to pay for relocation. Bye bye, Manhattan. Some of Brooklyn, above the escarpment, might survive for a while longer. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/31 "2014-05-22T02:35:52Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > We will do nothing. No one would pay for it if we are abandoning the land. It will be hard enough to pay for relocation. Bye bye, Manhattan. Some of Brooklyn, above the escarpment, might survive for a while longer. NJ has very serious wide spread problems before NYC has major problems. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/32 "2014-05-22T02:40:41Z")
Easy enough solution—just redirect a few modest asteroids into some place we don’t care about, dumping enough dust and ash into the atmosphere to cause a few generations of global cooling, freezing enough of the oceans to offset the ice melt. Plus, the attendant famine from crop failures will kill millions, reducing humanity’s carbon footprint _and_ (eventually) driving up the value of labor during the (eventual) recovery period. Everybody wins! ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/33 "2014-05-22T06:55:21Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Easy enough solution—just redirect a few modest asteroids into some place we don’t care about, dumping enough dust and ash into the atmosphere to cause a few generations of global cooling, freezing enough of the oceans to offset the ice melt. > > Plus, the attendant famine from crop failures will kill millions, reducing humanity’s carbon footprint _and_ (eventually) driving up the value of labor during the (eventual) recovery period. Everybody wins! Great idea, when do we start? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/34 "2014-05-22T07:13:37Z")
It’s not just the buildings, it’s all the services underground. Sea level rises and the lower half of a coastal city is now underwater (first at high tide only, then all the time) - the other half of the city, further up the hill, is the new waterfront. Great, but the whole thing was joined up underground by sewers and street drains, water and gas mains, power, telephone and data cabling, You can’t just abandon the wet half of that and expect the dry half to keep working. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/35 "2014-05-22T15:31:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s not just the buildings, it’s all the services underground. > > Sea level rises and the lower half of a coastal city is now underwater (first at high tide only, then all the time) - the other half of the city, further up the hill, is the new waterfront. > > Great, but the whole thing was joined up underground by sewers and street drains, water and gas mains, power, telephone and data cabling, You can’t just abandon the wet half of that and expect the dry half to keep working. Right, and a lot of that is toxic too. I wonder if it would threaten coastal fishing? Seems like the EPA would require at least some remediation of that. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/36 "2014-05-22T17:40:55Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Right, and a lot of that is toxic too. I wonder if it would threaten coastal fishing? Seems like the EPA would require at least some remediation of that. But whom could the EPA force to remediate it? Any coastal city that’s half underwater will be dead broke. Individual property owners are unlikely to be able to afford marine excavation. Having all of our coastal cities half underwater is going to overwhelm any superfund. Who is going to do it? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/37 "2014-05-22T17:44:40Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I wonder if it’s more economical to tear down buildings and clean up the ground or retrofit existing buildings’ foundations and turn certain areas into Venice-like areas? Not a whole lot of people actually live in Venice. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/38 "2014-05-22T17:49:16Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > We will do nothing. No one would pay for it if we are abandoning the land. It will be hard enough to pay for relocation. Bye bye, Manhattan. Some of Brooklyn, above the escarpment, might survive for a while longer. By “escarpment” do you mean the Palisades along the Hudson River? Somehow I doubt we will ever see sea levels rise that high. Bad news for Weehawken though. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821/39 "2014-05-23T02:12:23Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > Great idea, when do we start? As soon as I can get a convincing “robotic asteroid mining” investment prospectus written up, I’ll see if I can get the ball rolling. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-level-rise-will-we-clean-the-land-first/688821.md?page=1)