With Halloween upon us, I can’t help but binge-watch zombie flicks in between marathons of The Walking Dead. One recurring theme I’ve noticed is how incredibly efficient a zombie virus is at spreading. By the time we meet our protagonists, there is already an undead hoard waiting to chase them through streets and shopping malls. I imagine that once a major waterway is infected, it means game over for an unsuspecting city.

Now why am I bringing this up on a wildlife blog? Well we may not be up against a zombie virus, but our aging infrastructure, climate change, and increasingly urbanized population is presenting us with a serious public health issue: sewage. A year ago, Hurricane Sandy sent a wake-up call to the east coast and revealed just how vulnerable our built environment is, and how this spells bad news for our health, fish and wildlife, and our economy.

A Deluge of Sewage

Like a mad scientist releasing a plague upon the world, Hurricane Sandy knocked out sewage infrastructure from D.C. to Connecticut, resulting in the overflow of over 11 billion gallons of untreated and partially treated sewage. That’s about 50 BP Gulf oil spills worth of sewage spilling into waterways millions of people rely on for food and recreation. Worse yet, field studies have discovered drug-resistant bacteria in impacted waterways. While not exactly ‘zombie-viruses,’ these bacteria can cause swimmer’s ear, skin rashes, pneumonia, blood infections, urinary infections, or food poisoning.

Untreated sewage also brings large amounts of nitrogen into rivers, bays, and other coastal areas. This high dosage of nutrients causes algae and bacteria to thrive, causing eutrophication. The resulting bloom and death of these microorganisms devours dissolved oxygen, creating hypoxic (low-levels of oxygen) environments. Combined with warmer-than-average temperatures, bodies of water can become anoxic (lacking oxygen) ‘dead zones’ where almost nothing can survive. National Wildlife Federation released a report detailing just how severe the consequences of eutrophication are in the Great Lakes, and in Long Island Sound, this is at least partially to blame for the decline in lobsters over the last 15 years.

Nature to the Rescue

Just like how wildlife can battle, and defeat, the undead, nature can provide a solution to this health risk. New York City’s sustainability plan, PlaNYC, and Philadelphia’s Greenworks Plan, are just two of countless city initiatives working to use nature to prevent combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in the future. In Staten Island, protecting green space that absorbs stormwater has saved New Yorkers $80 million in infrastructure costs while raising property values and providing habitat for wildlife. Increasing the amount of green space throughout the city allows water to naturally penetrate the earth, while urban trees can absorb and retain stormwater, removing strain on sewer systems. NYC plans to invest $1.5 billion on green infrastructure over the next 20 years, ultimately saving New Yorkers more than $2 billion compared to an all-grey approach.

Cut the Carbon

If harmful bacteria and nitrogen in sewage is the zombie virus of our time, climate change is the villain that makes it all worse. Climate change can’t be blamed for any one storm, but it will increase their frequency and intensity. More water in shorter periods of time will put a strain on already vulnerable infrastructure and natural resources. Nature-based approaches can help communities prepare for some of these impacts, but investments in carbon reduction, such as offshore wind, can help reduce the severity of climate change. We need to hold our elected officials accountable to address climate change, protect public health, and ensure we continue to have access to clean water.

When Superstorm Sandy hit the region last year, sewage treatment plants along the coast, from New Jersey to Connecticut, could not manage the increased water outflows. The response? billions of gallons of untreated sewage was discharged straight into the Sound and the Atlantic. Needless to say, raw sewage is not exactly healthy for fish, wildlife, and the people that rely on these waters. Unless we take action to adapt to future climate impacts such as this, our restoration efforts to date will be undone.

Climate Change Hits the Atlantic Coast

On June 25th, President Obama announced his plan to lead the fight in addressing climate change. Among the many great initiatives he laid out, he conceited that regardless of how much carbon we cut today, the impacts of climate change will be felt for decades to come. National Wildlife Federation acknowledged this in Wildlife in a Warming World, released earlier this year. Among the impacts, scientists project that the global mean sea level could rise as much as 6.6 feet by the end of the century. Extreme weather events are also expected to increase in intensity, and wildlife from the Florida Keys to the Gulf of Maine are threatened by warming water, ocean acidification, and the constant threat of human development and pollution.
But climate change does not just bring doom and gloom. It brings opportunity. During his speech on his administration’s plan to address climate change, President Obama spoke about communities across the nation already adapting to the threats of climate change.

States and cities across the country are already taking it upon themselves to get ready. Miami Beach is hardening its water supply against seeping salt water. We’re partnering with the state of Florida to restore Florida’s natural clean water delivery system, the Everglades….

New York City is fortifying its 520 miles of coastline as an insurance policy against more frequent and costly storms. And what we’ve learned from Hurricane Sandy and other disasters is that we’ve got to build smarter, more resilient infrastructure that can protect our homes and businesses and withstand more powerful storms. That means stronger seawalls, natural barriers, hardened power grids, hardened water systems, hardened fuel supplies.

-President Obama, June 25th 2013

Climate Smart Communities

Annapolis, MD recognized that more intense storms will contribute to more frequent and severe instances of urban flooding. Their Stormwater Utility Fee can now be discounted for residential and community properties that install stormwater management structures on their property, including green roofs, rain gardens, and infiltration trenches. Natural structures such as these allow for infiltration of stormwater into the ground, preventing or slowing the flow of runoff into waterways where it may impact water quality and the health of fish and wildlife.

Investments Today Will Save Us Tomorrow

Less than a year after Hurricane Sandy, New York City released a progress report on its sustainability plan, PlaNYC. Among the many successes the report highlights, resilience against the impacts of Sandy were among the most significant. Despite $19 billion in damages, projects such as the Brooklyn Bridge Park suffered little to no damage thanks to design standards to manage against sea level rise and coastal flooding. Recovery and reconstruction efforts have since been completed with climate adaptation in mind. By restoring coastal parks and planting additional trees, the city also promises to provide benefits for wildlife as well.

The reality, as President Obama explained in his speech, is that the impacts of climate change are already occurring. We cannot simply wait for the next storm and hope for the best, especially if that means dumping raw sewage into our waterways and waiting for another day to clean it up. Taking action on climate cannot just mean cutting carbon. It must mean investing in adaptation efforts and green infrastructure today, so that people and wildlife can coexist tomorrow.

The Wildlife Grant program was created by Congress in 2000 thanks to strong support from the Teaming with Wildlife Coalition. The Wildlife Action Plans that states write to qualify for this funding have already identified over 10,000 species that are at-risk, their key threats, and the conservation needed to ensure their continued survival. In the old conservation adage, the goal of these plans is to keep common species common. As a bonus, NWF is also working to ensure these plans are “Climate Smart” by incorporating climate adaptation into new and existing plans. Funding for the SWG program is thus vital for current and future conservation.

Conservation Funding in Action

The great thing about the State Wildlife Grant program is that it already has a proven track record. When people think of my home state of Connecticut, they often see just another suburb of New York. Even here, however, a variety of species — from the prehistoric horseshoe crab to the adorable (yet imperiled) New England Cottontail rabbit — have benefited from the research and conservationSWG funding has provided.

In my adopted home of Maine, where I studied at the University of New England, grant funding was used to survey and protect important waterways and terrestrial habitats vital for the survival of moose and a variety of rare species. Although Maine touts itself as “The Way Life Should Be,” the state has faced challenges in protecting its wildlife in the past. In the late 1970s, the region almost lost its population of Bald Eagles, the symbol of America. Thanks in part to active conservation funded by the Wildlife Grant program, the population increased ten-fold to over 300 nesting pairs in recent years.