How do you save a sinking city?

The Atlantic Ocean is reclaiming Charleston, and city leaders hope a new plan can help keep the floods at bay for several more decades.

Sea levels in this area are forecast to rise by about 30 centimeters over the next 25 years, and by 2100, they could rise by as much as 1 to 1.5 meters. In the coming decades, hurricanes triggered by climate change are likely to make flooding even more severe. Researchers predict that these could become more severe as the oceans warm.

Water levels around Charleston have already risen by about a foot in the last century. Accordingly, the number of floods the city experiences has increased dramatically—from two in 1922 (the first year with available data) to 75 in 2023, an increase of 3,650 percent. These floods are placing an ever-increasing financial burden on businesses and homeowners.

Charleston’s comprehensive integrated water plan, years in the making, is designed to help the city manage its relationship with rising sea levels over the next 25 years.

According to Mayor William Cogswell, who announced the workshop at a council meeting on August 20, it will be presented to City Council members for the first time on August 27 at 4 p.m. in the council chambers at 80 Broad Street. The meeting will be live-streamed on the city’s YouTube channel and a recording will be available there afterward.

“(The plan) is the culmination of hard work and research that my predecessor, Mayor (John) Tecklenburg, began as part of the Dutch Dialogues,” Cogswell said. “The concepts proposed are very impactful and ambitious, and we are excited to present them.”

The tentative timeline, according to the project website, calls for the water plan to be completed in fall 2024. Cogswell said there will be “many public meetings in the future” about the plan – an announcement that was widely supported by community members at the Aug. 20 council meeting, who urged city leaders to include more public hearings in the water plan process.

“I know a lot of my neighbors don’t know about this plan, and I think if we can get more of them involved, they will become advocates for this work that you are leading,” Sonny Goyal, a member of the Harleston Village Neighborhood Association, said at the meeting.

At previous meetings, city leaders have released piecemeal details of the water plan, most recently including a project to rehabilitate New Market Creek under the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, turning it into a public park and flood-control wetland, and an initiative to raise the West Ashley Greenway to create a flood-control wall.

“More than 300 citizens attended a previous meeting of the Dutch Dialogues,” said resident Peter Goodrich. The Dutch Dialogues were the predecessor to the water plan and will have a significant influence on the plan’s final form. “We all need to know more about the city’s plans for the immediate, medium and long-term future.”

Goodrich also suggested the city establish a citizens’ advisory council to “keep the public informed about ongoing restoration projects and the progress of the water plan.”

Cogswell said at the council meeting that city staff was already working on additional plans based on the basin maps outlined in the upcoming water plan and that they are considering strengthening the city’s partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The city is working with the Army Corps on two major, interconnected initiatives: a tidal and inland flood protection feasibility project and the Charleston Peninsula Perimeter Protection Project, colloquially known as the Seawall Project.

Cogswell favors a “raised edge” on the peninsula, but has previously said he does not support the seawall plan in its current size and form. The preliminary plan calls for a roughly $1.3 billion structure around about 8 miles of the peninsula.

Toby Cox contributed to this report.