City Of Portsmouth Hosts 165 Attendees For 10th National Keeping History Above Water Conference

Press release from the City of Portsmouth:

Three institutions who have worked together to assess the impacts of sea level rise on Portsmouth NH, including its most historic waterfront neighborhood, hosted the 10th national Keeping History Above Water ® (KHAW) conference this week. The City of Portsmouth Planning and Sustainability Department and Water, Wastewater, Stormwater Division of the Department of Public Works along with Strawbery Banke Museum and University of New Hampshire Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space welcomed 165 attendees to the three-day conference to explore “Water Has a Memory: Preserving Historic Port Cities from Sea Level Rise.” Founded in 2016 by the Newport Restoration Foundation to foster a national conversation focused on the increasing and varied risks posed by sea-level rise to historic coastal communities, KHAW® has visited Annapolis, Palo Alto, Des Moines, St. Augustine, Nantucket, Charleston, Salem, Norfolk, Puerto Rico, Trinidad/Tobago and now Portsmouth – a location timed to coincide with the city’s 400th anniversary. The message repeated throughout the conference was, “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ sea level rise flooding will have increasing impact.

This press release was produced by the City of Portsmouth. The views expressed here are the author’s own.