Climate change affects many decisions regarding where and how King County builds public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, utilities, and buildings. Many of these assets will be in place for 50 years or more. The ability of those assets to provide reliable public services over that lifespan in a changing climate is contingent on the decisions we make today when planning and designing these facilities.
The goal of incorporating climate change into capital planning is to ensure that climate impacts are being accounted for in decision making and that adjustments are made as needed based on anticipated impacts. This process can help reduce existing vulnerabilities, avoid building—both literally and figuratively—new vulnerabilities into a system, and ensure that program goals and objectives can still be met in a changing climate. In most cases, the adjustments we are making today will provide benefit in the near term by reducing the potential for damage or harm related to today’s extreme events.
What's at stake
King County owns, maintains, and operates billions of dollars’ worth of physical infrastructure necessary to support thriving communities, a robust economy, and a healthy environment. Failing to account for climate impacts as part of the capital planning process can result in costly damage, disrupted services, reduced asset life and/or performance, increased risks to public health, difficulty meeting environmental goals or regulatory requirements, reputational damage, and higher organizational insurance rates. People living with low incomes and BIPOC communities are disproportionately affected by these impacts.
A better outcome
King County envisions a future where it can continue providing reliable public services with little to no disruption from extreme weather events. Climate change impacts are systematically factored into capital planning processes and agencies are investing in approaches that build long-term resilience into projects. King County communities are healthier, the economy is thriving, and our environment is cleaner as a result of these investments.
What we've done to get here
- Constructed the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station to account for two feet of sea level rise.
- Completed climate change vulnerability assessments for different impacts (e.g., extreme precipitation, sea level rise) and programmatic areas to better understand how climate change affects operations and infrastructure.
- Initiated cross-departmental discussions on how to adapt capital planning processes to account for climate impacts.
- Incorporated evaluation of projected changes in heavy rain into the design of new culverts, helping to ensure that salmon can access high quality salmon habitat in a changing climate.