Climate Adaptation in Salt Lake County’s Watershed Management

In this YouTube video, the lecturer Marian Hubbard Rice explains how Salt Lake City has integrated climate change adaptation into its watershed management.

In 2015, the city shifted to an integrated watershed plan that incorporates the 208 Clean Water Act, a section that requires states to implement regional wastewater management plans, climate change effects on precipitation and runoff, land-use practices, and population growth.

Changes to land use, such as developments that create more impervious surfaces, will significantly affect water movement and pollutant loads.

Although the council started to recognise weather variability in 2008-2009 in its watershed management planning, climate change was not mentioned and integrated into the plan until 2016.

The council then conducted a climate change analysis that included modelling dry and wet conditions in some areas of the county, anticipating increases in temperature, changes in precipitation, and altered runoff patterns throughout the county due to climate change.

Some of the highlights of the video include:

• Climate change affects watershed functions, the nexus or link between water and energy, and stream restoration and low-impact development (LID) that integrates climate change.
• Shifting from the traditional approach to more holistic restoration strategies that utilise vegetation and a natural channel approach that integrates climate change.
• Application of the LID approach and green infrastructure in Salt Lake County’s stream restoration projects. Stream and river issues include stream bank scouring, bank stabilisation, and managing stormwater runoffs, which climate change will significantly affect.
• Engage and involve the community through events and symposia to teach them about the watershed—what it is and how to be good stewards of it.

Watch this video by clicking the play button below: