Dike Vulnerability Due to Sea-Level Rise (Western Canada)

This paper discusses the vulnerability of sea dikes in Western Canada, including examples of existing dike designs in British Columbia (BC). A dike means an embankment, revetment wall, or other coastal structures that protect upland areas and prevent the flooding of the land. There are more than 200 regulated dikes in BC, with a total length of over 1100 km, protecting 160,000 ha of valuable land. The BC Ministry of Environment guidelines for the design of sea dikes to protect low lying lands are used to define the upgraded sea dikes flood construction levels (FCL) that are now necessary due to climate change and sea-level rise (SLR). Thus, dike crest elevations will need to rise so that they continue to exert their protective function in the future, towards a lifetime up to the year 2100 and beyond. The vulnerability of sea dikes is evaluated using an example dike for the application of the PIEVC (Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee) Protocol method, which is used to identify the sea dike components that are especially vulnerable to climate- and weather-related impacts and to evaluate the risks to these infrastructure elements, as well as to propose typical mitigation measures.