NATURE-BASED INFRASTUCTURE MODELLING IN AN INTERTIDAL ENVIRONMENT EXPOSED TO STORM SURGES

Boundary Bay is an intertidal embayment on the eastern coast of the Salish Sea in British Columbia, Canada. Topographically steered winds result in the focusing of storm surges and wind-driven surface waves into this bay, across the mud flats, and into tidal channels and salt marshes. The bay is rimmed by a network of coastal dykes, which provide some coastal flood protection to communities, infrastructure, and agricultural land. However, the rapidly changing climate is driving rising sea and groundwater levels and coastal erosion. Without intervention, these climate-driven processes are expected to result in coastal squeeze, overtopping, and eventual dyke failure in Boundary Bay. Rather than continually reinforce the existing dykes, a local government and First Nation partnership has initiated the construction of a nature-based solution pilot, which aims to stimulate wave attenuation and prevent landward flooding. (City of Surrey 2022)