How will our coastal communities handle the looming challenges of climate change and sea level rise? It’s a question on the minds of many Delawareans and Americans across the country.

Major issues like flooding and saltwater encroachment on the land are likely to worsen over time. Many elected officials, community leaders, farmers, and landowners must respond. But what are their options, and how much will it cost? For now, those options are not clear.

Enter a University of Delaware interdisciplinary research team. UD was selected as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) four-year, $77.8 million investment to build climate resilience capacity across the United States. The funding comes via NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

In the lowest-lying state in the country, the UD researchers are focused on the project “Risks, Impacts, & Strategies for Coastal Communities.” The project received $6 million in funding; UD will receive more than $3 million for the research.

Led by principal investigator Leah Palm-Forster, the team will focus primarily on the risks of flooding and salinization on coastal land. These issues are significant not only in Delaware but also in states like Rhode Island and South Carolina, where UD partners will collaborate on the work. Emi Uchida is leading the Rhode Island team, and Norman Levine is leading the South Carolina team.

Floods can cause frequent road closures, reduced stormwater drainage capacity, and deterioration of infrastructure. Salinization, when salts accumulate in soil and freshwater, poses problems like hindering crop growth, reducing biodiversity, deteriorating forests, and damaging infrastructure.

“We brought together a very interdisciplinary group of researchers to understand the physical risks on coastal communities and how they impact people,” said Palm-Forster, an associate professor of applied economics and the director of the UD Center for Experimental and Applied Economics.

The First State is on the front lines in facing climate change and sea-level rise. Individual decisions, like how water is used, can change the level of risk, but a community’s response to the risk is also key.

“We have to respond, so we can reduce the risk or adapt,” added Palm-Forster, a faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Why should I care?

So why would the average Delawarean, especially if they don’t live in a coastal town, worry about salinization? Pinki Mondal, associate professor and environmental science director in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, warns that it is a “double danger.”

“Salt water is encroaching into our groundwater and changing our surface water,” explained Mondal.

Many Delawareans work and live near the coastline. Additionally, much of Delaware’s agriculture, the state’s number one economic industry, sits near the coastline or is connected via canals to ocean water.

“Canals were initially designed to take the extra water off the farm,” emphasized Mondal. “These days—because of sea-level rise, land subsidence [sinking], and more powerful coastal storms—the canals have sort of become a conduit to bring saltwater in.”

Salinization costs Delaware businesses. For example, for farmers who grow corn or soybeans, Mondal’s previous research illustrated the $40 million to $100 million in profits that farmers are losing annually. 

If you’re thinking, ‘I don’t have a farm, so this won’t cost me anything,’ you would be wrong.

First, saline water gets into drinking water, a worry for taxpayers and water drinkers nationwide. Second, water grows the grain that Delaware farmers produce to sell or feed key industries like poultry. The increased cost rears its head throughout the food chain; even the savviest shoppers will see an increase in the grocery store checkout line.

For coastal states, essential salt marshes and other natural barriers are being lost at an accelerated rate due to sea-level rise.

“We are at a point where we cannot be reactive; we must be proactive,” stressed Mondal. “We have waited long enough for this problem to become severe.”

She points out that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

“That is not how it works on the ground. There are historically disadvantaged communities. There are coastal communities where conditions will degrade faster than others,” said Mondal. “We need to have strategies and be able to customize for communities like these.”

What’s this going to cost?

Problems brought on by sea level rise can mean the cost of repairs and safety concerns are untenable. The best solution might be to offer homeowners money via a coastal buyout program, which taps funding from agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Delaware residents have very different perspectives on such buyout programs. 

That’s where Christina McGranaghan, an assistant professor in UD’s Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, will place her focus. She’s interested in the human side. She’ll work to identify effective, affordable home adaptation strategies. After all, a strategy can look good on paper, but if community members don’t perceive it as fair, the effort will fail. 

“These three states are at very different stages in terms of buyout adoption,” said McGranaghan. 

Typically, people who haven’t heard about buyout programs have a perfectly understandable, push-back reaction to the idea of moving out. But, as McGranaghan explained, buyouts are meant to build coastal resilience--meaning that a community is better prepared for and able to respond to a hazardous event. For example, homeowners might be better protected by floods in the future by converting an oft-flooded area into a wetland.

“If you have people who live in areas at risk of repeated flooding, it may not be financially viable to build, for example, a sea wall,” said McGranaghan. “But it can be challenging to convince an entire group of homeowners to relocate together.”

Community from the get-go

The UD researchers built relationships with community partners before the project’s genesis. These officials, leaders, farmers, and landowners want to know their options to tackle flooding and salinization—and how much each option costs. UD will analyze and offer strategies for communities to make informed decisions.

The researchers used the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool to identify communities at high risk. In the First State, the UD researchers will work with the Kent County town of Little Creek, the Sussex Soil and Conservation District and Bay Beach Association. The team wants to see how these communities are experiencing climate change risks and making decisions—like planning, zoning or supporting natural buffers like marshes—to adapt.

Nina David will lead the research grant’s planning and policy work. She highlights that, during the grant application process, UD faculty asked questions to stakeholders in all three of the states. David dubs it “two-way learning.”

“We are engaging stakeholders—both community and policy—from the beginning to the end of the research grant,” explained David, an associate professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. “We wanted to not only know how they assess these threats to coastal communities, but how they plan to confront them.”

So, while the UD team will conduct research over the next four years, these community leaders need not wait to act. Throughout the study, researchers will present data to these groups. Leaders can use the information to shift their approach.

Through 2028, the UD team has systematic plans to engage stakeholders in these three states. UD created a community advisory group that they can interview and survey.

“Our partners hold key positions,” highlighted David. “They can funnel information to their jurisdictions and stakeholders, who can use the data to make informed choices.” 

The grant will also mobilize “community engagement studios” to solicit feedback from groups like residents and farmers.

“We hope that the strategies that we develop through this community-engaged research process will serve as blueprints for coastal communities around the U.S.,” noted Palm-Forster.

Education and workforce development

The UD researchers will work with Delaware Technical Community College through educational outreach and workforce development components.

They will design lesson plans that combine environmental science and economics based on evidence-based scientific findings. The researchers will work with Del Tech instructors to pilot these lessons.

“Instructors will provide us with valuable information about how well the materials worked and if any changes need to be made,” said Sam Clem, assistant director of diversity, education, and outreach for the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN).

Through this partnership, the researchers aim to reach a diverse group of future environmental researchers and train them for the future needs of the First State. Del Tech will also help to recruit three to four students annually to be summer research interns.

Documenting the work

When this research project is completed, in addition to publishing their work, the investigators plan to share their findings via a documentary film. A crew will follow the science from beginning to end. The researchers hope to distribute the finished documentary via PBS on how to take on sea-level rise.  

“The documentary crew is already reaching out to community members, trying to get their cameras in place so that when those first big storms of the season hit, they are ready to catch it all,” said Clem.

When the research is complete, the team hopes the strategies can serve as blueprints.

“Our goal is to make scientific advancements that support our community partners and that are broadly applicable,” said Palm-Forster. “Then, we can apply these strategies to other coastal communities around the country.”

About the UD research team

This research project combines University of Delaware knowledge from across the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, and Delaware Environmental Institute. Participating faculty and staff members include Leah Palm-Forster (principal investigator), Nina David, Jeanette Miller, Pinki Mondal Jennifer Volk (co-principal investigators), and Sam Clem, Cherie Conrad, Jon Cox, Christina McGranaghan, Kent Messer, Holly Michael, AR Siders and Amy Slocum. The team will collaborate with faculty members at the University of Rhode Island, College of Charleston, University of South Carolina, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, Delaware Technical Community College and The Citadel.