NORFOLK, Va. —
Continuing sea level rise and coastal erosion are top issues for many in Hampton Roads. That's why elected leaders and experts joined an afternoon roundtable on Thursday afternoon to discuss sustainability and coastal resilience.
The Elizabeth River Project is one of many local conservation efforts in Hampton Roads that is addressing the issues head-on.
"We're facing this new challenge which is sea level rise, and sea level rise threatens to do two things that are problematic, one being that it's going to drown a lot of our shorelines. The other problem that sea level rise causes is intense flooding," said Victoria Dunch, the project's resilience and research coordinator.
When it began in the 90s, the Elizabeth River Project sought to answer the need to clean and restore the waterway, which dealt with years of neglect and pollution. Since then, several cleaning efforts and projects restored much of the Elizabeth River.
A key part of those efforts is the Ryan Resilience Lab in Norfolk, which opened last year. Experts say it's now a shining example of sustainability in an urban setting. The lab's goal is to model what sustainable systems like rain gardens and barrels, a green roof and a living shoreline, among others, can do, while offering community programming with eco-conscious themes.
Last November, Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner secured hundreds of thousands in funding for many conversation efforts, including the Elizabeth River Project.
Kaine said he hopes the investments make the area a sustainability hub in the years to come, he told 13News Now at the roundtable.
"We're hoping, and I think have reason to believe, that Hampton Roads could be kind of a trendsetter for other communities that are trying to deal with sea-level rise issues," Kaine said.