A rise in sea levels may not seem like a problem that would concern Kansans, but Michael Steinle told his fellow members of Central Rotary Club that it’s a situation that could affect everyone.
Steinle is Principal Management Consultant with ARCADIS, a privately owned company that deals with risks in the infrastructure, with water, the environment and in buildings. ARCADIS provides risk assessment in all these areas. He said rising sea levels along the coasts are going to be a major problem
“In evaluating situations such as this, we go through several steps,” Steinle said. “We identify risks and then work on ways to mitigate them.
“We repair damage, getting specialists in many areas to help us.”
Steinle said the company studies responses to situations and provides training , for example, simulating search and rescue exercises.
“And then,” he said “we work on helping with recovery from incidents.”
Steinle said the company is also looking at resilience as the infrastructure is aging and at asset management. They do earthquake planning,, especially studying providing shelters for quake victims. They have grant applications out to FEMA on behalf of clients and they work with the highway patrol in several states on crash response.
“Our clients are starting to understand the sea water rise and we’re currently looking at a project in New York to provide water barriers.
“We’re working hard on getting everyone to be aware and follow the necessary guidelines,” he said.
