샌프란시스코만 지역이 이상기후 및 해수면 상승에 적응하도록 돕기 위해 고안된 혁신적인 실험인 오로로마 수평제방프로젝트(Oro Loma Horizontal Levee Project)가 공식적으로 완료됐다.

지난 4월 9일에 시작된 이 프로젝트는 습지 유역 및 ‘수평제방(horizontal levee)’으로 알려진 새로운 타입의 제방을 포함한다. 이 넓고 완만하게 경사진 자갈·진흙·잔디 쐐기(wedge)는 만 지역에서의 취락(settlement)이 이루어지기 전 존재해던 역사적인 습지 생태계를 모방한다.

 

 

 

Construction of the Oro Loma Horizontal Levee Project -- an innovative experiment along the San Francisco Bay shoreline, designed to help the Bay Area adapt to projected sea rise and extreme weather -- is now officially complete.

 

The project, started on April 9, 2015, includes a wetland basin and a new type of levee known as a "horizontal levee." This wide, gently sloping wedge of gravel, mud and grass mimics a historic wetland ecosystem that existed before settlement in the Bay Area.

 

Treated effluent from the Oro Loma facility will flow into the basin, be piped to the top of the horizontal levee, and flow through the soil to sustain native plants. This vegetation will provide wildlife habitat and remove nutrients that threaten water quality. Most significantly, engineers see the horizontal levee as a natural buffer that can absorb storm surges and provide natural protection from flooding at a fraction of the cost of traditional levees.

 

Phase I of the project is now completed, and community volunteers mobilized by the regional environmental nonprofit group Save the Bay will plant more than 70,000 native plants in November/December 2015.

 

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, will lead the monitoring effort to quantify the effectiveness of the levee. The experiment will provide a much-needed field test of how treated wastewater and these new kinds of levees can help address critical flood protection, water quality and wildlife habitat issues.

 

The public is invited to tour the horizontal levee project and learn from project experts on Saturday, Nov. 14. Tours of the wastewater treatment plant will be also offered. Experts will speak about the project and how the concept could be expanded to protect large portions of the shoreline.

 

[출처 = Water World / 2015년 11월 2일]