GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — There are a number of ways we can protect our properties as sea level rise increase, and many of those can be done naturally.
That’s exactly what’s being done in one of the region’s most vulnerable areas — Gloucester County on the Middle Peninsula.
“We are facing challenges that the rest of the country are going to face 10 to 15 years down the road,” said Troy Hartley with Virginia Sea Grant.
Those challenges? They deal with threats from flooding and sea level rise.
“We are facing flood issues and water issues in our community at a greater rate than other parts of the country,” Hartley said.
In Gloucester County, the Coastal Resilience and Adaptation Ecosystem will serve as a real-world testing ground for new products and technology to combat those threats. The $6 million project was started with $2.9 million from Go Virginia.
“This is going to be a multi-faceted strategy,” said Sara Dunnigan with Go Virginia, “one part industry scale-up and one part talent development, and we need to make sure we’ve got the physical environment for these companies to grow.”
Companies like Triangle Environment are partnering with James Madison University to develop septic systems to decentralize wastewater treatment and other companies that help create living shorelines to help prevent erosion.
These companies are working together to develop technology to fight sea level rise in rural communities.
“Each of us are bringing assets to the table that not one of us has alone,” Hartley said, “and it needs that kind of response to address the challenges we are facing — the water quality and water quantity issues.”