Climate change, aging infrastructure and rapid development fuel Asheville stormwater woes
These days, when it rains, it really pours. Due to global climate change, “Heavy downpours are increasing nationally,” noted the National Climate Assessment’s 2014 report, compiled by hundreds of experts overseen by a 60-member federal advisory committee. And in the Southeast, rain intensity has increased nearly 30 percent in recent decades, the report concluded. Here in Asheville, however, climate change is only one factor driving a rising tide of stormwater problems.