Sea Level Rise and Flood Resiliency Plan

As part of the District’s commitment to addressing the impacts of climate change on water resources, including rising sea-levels, changing rainfall patterns, and evapotranspiration trends, among others, the District is developing its Sea Level Rise and Flood Resiliency Plan.

This plan, which is updated annually, is the first District initiative to compile a comprehensive list of priority resiliency projects with the goal of reducing the risks of flooding, sea level rise, and other climate impacts on water resources and increasing community and ecosystem resiliency in South Florida. This goal will be achieved by updating and enhancing water management infrastructure and implementing effective, resilient, integrated basin-wide solutions. This list of projects was compiled based upon vulnerability assessments that have been ongoing for the past decade. These assessments utilize extensive data observations and robust technical hydrologic and hydraulic model simulations to characterize current and future conditions, and associated risks.

Senate Bill 1954/2021 - Statewide Flooding and Sea-level Rise Resilience established the Resilient Florida Grant Program within the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The bill requires the FDEP to complete a comprehensive statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise data set and assessment, as well as an annual Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, which must be submitted to the Governor and Legislature for approval. As part of the Resilient Florida Program Implementation, South Florida Water Management District submits the list of priority projects to FDEP by September 1^st, every year.

The SFWMD encourages stakeholders and the public to review the plan each year and provide comments on the Draft 2022 SFWMD Sea Level Rise and Flood Resiliency Plan ahead of its submittal to FDEP on September 1^st as part of our ongoing efforts to address the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and changing rainfall and flood patterns, alongside local governments, stakeholders, and communities in the region. The comments will be evaluated as part of the development of the Sea Level Rise and Flood Resiliency Plan each year. The deadline to submit comments is Friday, July 15, 2022. All comments must be emailed to resiliency@sfwmd.gov.