San Diego Airport Faces Rising Ocean Levels

Speaker 1: 00:00 San Diego's airport welcomes visitors with views of skyscrapers and a huge bay, but the airport is facing challenges as sea levels rise from our changing climate desk. Hey, PBS environment reporter Eric Anderson says the Airport Authority is working today with an ion tomorrow Speaker 2: 00:20 more than 18,000 airline flights a month travel through San Diego's Lindbergh field that's nearly 220,000 flights a year. That makes the airport itself an economic engine. It generates an impact of more than $11 billion on a local economy, three point $9 billion from its payroll alone and the facility it makes $265 million of revenue each year. You total everything up and close to 24 million people pass through the terminal last year. Many of them visitors who spent money on local hotels, restaurants and attractions. Brendan Reed is the airport authorities, director of planning and Environmental Affairs and he says the airport is also a key business hub. We've got harbor drive Speaker 3: 01:09 here and then behind that we met him recently on the southwestern edge of the airport property. We're almost near the end of the runway actually. So most of the time this is where aircraft are starting their takeoff. Speaker 2: 01:20 Let's see, your problem, part of Reed's job is to make sure that the airport continues to be a vital part of the region's economy. And that means understanding how climate change can influence how planes land and take off. Speaker 3: 01:33 We know that this airport has to be operational for this region. That's why again, we're, we're looking at what we can do today to have benefits in 80 years. And I think, um, it really demonstrates our proactiveness being proactive is critical for a low lying airport that's next to a salt water bay. And Reed is confident that sea level rise won't directly affect the runway, but it could hurt nearby properties. Many people might not know, but the airport doesn't sit great on the water. We actually have other property across the street. We have the Coast Guard station, we of course have the port of San Diego's property on harbor island and we have city of San Diego streets. So one of the biggest things we need to focus on, and we've actually made a lot of progress even in the last five years, is working as a region and with those agencies in particular, they're looking at how can we collaborate to make sure that something like harbor drive is sustained in the long run because although it's not on airport property, obviously it is critical to get our airport passengers here. Reid says the risk of road flooding will climb with sea levels. Those conditions will be exacerbated by high tides and storms, but he's confident the roads are pretty resilient and can recover quickly from temporary flooding. But Reed says if flooding becomes too frequent, it becomes a problem, especially along busy harbor drive, which serves the airports front door. He says Speaker 2: 02:59 airport officials are committed to making sure passengers have a safe and efficient way to get to the airport. Speaker 3: 03:06 Given the projections that we have now out to the end of the century, there are multiple ways that we can address those issues. Um, some of it's on sites, some of it's going to be in really close collaboration with our partner agencies. Off site Speaker 2: 03:20 that includes the port of San Diego and the city of San Diego. But not all the plans for climate resilience would happen on property around the airport. Reid says anytime there's new construction on airport property, the project is adjusted to keep sea level rise in mind. Speaker 3: 03:37 Whenever we're designing and constructing a new building, we actually look at how those things like sea level rise impact that. And so we are able to actually change in some cases the uh, the building elevation pad so that again, if there is flooding in the future, those buildings can be more resilient to that. Speaker 2: 03:55 And while current state projections expect a relatively modest impact from sea level rise, about a foot and a half by 2050 Reid says the airport authority will adjust if those predictions change Speaker 3: 04:08 when you're dealing with climate resilience. Um, this is certainly not the f the last time we're going to look at the data. One of the most important things, and that's why we're again, helping sponsor a Scripps Institute, putting in a sensor in the bay across the street, is that we need to have constant data so that new projections can be taken into consideration. And then that, of course, can inform policy decisions. Speaker 2: 04:31 Ford official self, the planning they do now will help protect the facility from climate change in the future. Eric Anderson, KPBS news Speaker 4: 04:47 [inaudible].