CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Mayor John Tecklenburg and several other members of his staff returned from a trip to the Netherlands on Monday where they studied flooding solutions.
Mayor Tecklenburg said he and his team met with officials in the Netherlands last week during their trip.
They discussed how the country has addressed problems with flooding and drainage.
“For them, as it has become for Charleston, water is an existential crisis,” Tecklenburg said.
Tecklenburg said officials in the Netherlands have designed drainage projects to fit in with the surrounding environment and serve a purpose to residents other than drainage.
“Always bring some other benefit, either from a park point of view or even a development point of view, to our city and our citizens,” Tecklenburg said.
Officials in the Netherlands also strongly consider where they build new developments to minimize flooding impacts, according to Tecklenburg.
“We’re going to be thinking about development standards for new buildings—where they should be built, what standards they should be built to, what requirements regarding drainage, particularly for their site plans,” Tecklenburg said.
The trip cost taxpayers about $14,000, according to City of Charleston spokesperson Jack O’Toole.
Tecklenburg said the trip was well worth the money spent because of the insight he and the rest of the team gained.
“We can, as a community, deal with flooding and drainage challenges that face Charleston,” Tecklenburg said.
In the past, Mayor Tecklenburg has called flooding one of the most important issues for the City of Charleston.
Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.