Microsite for NAS study on toxic flooding in Houston area
Kaihatu, James M
Dear coastal community:
One aspect of coastal resilience that might be discussed less than others concerns environmental impacts of coastal hazards. Recent work funded by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine paired researchers at Texas A&M University with the Environmental Defense Fund and the Galveston Bay Foundation to investigate the vulnerability of communities and industrial facilities in the vicinity of the Houston Ship Channel to the impact of toxic material mobilized by flood waters (surge and/or inland flooding). The possible ameliorative impact of proposed nature based solutions was also investigated.
The results can be seen in this site:
Through the vulnerability map, the vulnerability (via a numerical score) of either a facility or a community to flooding and toxic releases can be explored. It is also possible to check out options for nature based solutions for a community of interest via a decision tool.
I think it’s a pretty cool and useful site, and I’m happy to have been involved through the numerical flood modeling, as well as expand my collaboration partners to include some interesting folks from areas like environmental toxicology, landscape architecture and data science.
I’ve announced the site on Twitter / X and LinkedIn, but thought this might be a good audience as well. It’s significantly different from all the triad interaction modeling I’ve done, but also hopefully opens up new avenues (if nothing else, it’s cool to get some publications in environmental pollution and landscape architecture journals).
Best,
Jim
James M. Kaihatu, Ph.D. , Professor
Head – Environmental, Water Resources, and Coastal Engineering Division
Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University
3136 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3136
+1-979-862-3511 / jkai...@civil.tamu.edu / https://coasthaz.engr.tamu.edu