Flooded street (Photo by Lee Michaels, BlackburnNews.com)Flooded street (Photo by Lee Michaels, BlackburnNews.com)
Midwestern

South Huron hires climate change officer

The Municipality of South Huron is taking a proactive approach to climate change.

It's received a grant to hire a climate change officer to develop a Climate Change Adaptation Plan.

Mayor George Finch said more specifically, the job will involve looking at ways the municipality can prepare for future changes in the climate.

"As we know, there's going to be more flooding and different things, so we want to make sure that we do the right things now to prepare the municipality for future events.   Years ago it used to be the hundred-year flood, now we're getting the hundred-year flood every decade."

Finch also said it's less expensive in the long run to protect things like bridges and culverts now than it is to repair them after they've been damaged.

"If you add another hundred thousand dollars into that project, which is nominal for a project that size, and you can increase the strength of that culvert or bridge that will withstand that hundred-year flood that we receive every ten years, then, of course, we position ourselves better to adapt to that change," Finch said.

By doing that, Mayor Finch said South Huron will be in a much better position to adapt to the events that come with climate change.

Read More Local Stories