Home today, working and thinking about our most abundant resource in coastal Georgia: water.
Unlike our other sister office in the high plains of Colorado, where water is scarce, today we are closed due to the drenching from Hurricane Debby. Dropping over 11 inches of rain and still counting. Fortunately, we occupy the “high ground” in Savannah, thanks to General Oglethorpe and his friend Tomochichi who had the wisdom to build their settlements well above the Savannah River. But now the lower areas have been settled, too, and they will have structural flooding from both falling rain and rising waters as our creeks and marshes swell. With so much paving and roofing now shedding their rain into the low-lying areas, the folks who cannot afford to live elsewhere get the worst of it. Our abundant marshes and wetlands, which provide one of the most effective carbon sinks on the planet, will suffer too, from pollution.
Not just in hurricanes though. The effects of warmer ocean temperatures caused by our carbonized atmosphere now make what was once a 100-year storm more like a 25-year storm, meaning that we get these intense storms far more often than 30 years ago. What used to be gentle afternoon rain showers are now frequently torrential downpours.
Ironically, at the same time Coastal Georgia seems to be facing a shortage of drinking water. With the construction of our new Hyundai car mega-factory and the explosive growth in our seaport, the population in our area is destined to mushroom. But all those new residents need more drinking water, and our once seemingly unlimited water source—the Floridan Aquifer—is now strictly limited. As a result, municipalities and developers are scrambling and competing for access to drinking water. The City of Savannah is the only water provider in our region that uses surface water from the Savannah River to manufacture and distribute drinking water, but they are running out of capacity. Unless this riddle is solved, the new factory and logistics workers will put even more pressure on a housing shortage estimated at over 10,000 dwellings by experts. The same folks who cannot afford to live on the higher ground will lose out again.
View from front porch in Thomas-Square Neighborhood provided by Patrick Shay
Clearly it is high time that we rethink the way we plan and design communities for living, and the buildings within them. Using rainwater gathered in cisterns to irrigate our landscaping, and perhaps to flush our toilets would reduce usage of precious potable drinking water significantly. This is not new to areas like Colorado and our Caribbean Island neighbors, and the technology is proven. Re-thinking pavements to allow them to percolate storm water rather than channel them into gutters that pollute the marsh creeks. Making water-saving plumbing fixtures and fittings mandatory. Preserving wetlands border areas for reforestation. All of these methods, and more, need to be allowed by the regulators, underwritten by the financiers, and built to last.
Watching the flooding from Hurricane Debby recede today, it is a clear cry for action. The storms are now inevitable—that’s “baked in” to our new climate. As architects we are committed to finding new ways to adapt and take full advantage of water, water everywhere. Let’s get started!
--Patrick Shay, GMSHAY Architects and Urban Designers