US-Dutch Post-Sandy recovery Roundtable 2: Experts discuss rebuilding of Rockaway's waterfront
American and Dutch experts on water management came together at Kingsborough Community College for the Post-Sandy recovery Roundtable II on 11 and 12 July.
Close to 100 experts discussed and shared ideas to help The Rockaways recover from Sandy and help prepare the coasts for water challenges in the future.
Rebuilding Rockaway waterfront
The first day started off with plenary sessions with participating speakers Rob de Vos, Consul General of the Netherlands in New York; Regina Peruggi, Kingsborough Community College; William Tramontano, Brooklyn College; Commissioner Joshua Laird, National Park Services in New York Harbor (on top photo); Dan Zarrilli, Mayor Bloomberg’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency and Jeanne DuPont, Rockaway Waterfront Alliance.
Site visits to affected areas 
During site visits the experts had a chance to see the affected areas first-hand, which sparked initial discussions with regards to dune protection, coastal vulnerability and overall water management challenges in densely-populated areas.
Seeing the damaged coasts and speaking with the local authorities helped to build the foundation for the workshops that followed later in the afternoon.
In three separate groups the participants discussed issues and themes in the field of flood protection, coastal management and urban water management.
Options to combine hard and soft flood protection measures 
Carter Craft, the moderator, opened the second day of Roundtable II on Friday. The workshop groups reunited to finalize their reports and present their findings during a plenary feedback session.
Innovative, creative and useful ideas were presented, which included an elevated and widened boardwalk, multifunctional infrastructure / protection solutions and different combinations of wetland protection through wetlands and hard infrastructure.
The strength and success of the workshop was its multidisciplinary character combined with input by the local people who live and work around the Rockaways and know the area better than anybody else.
Discussion to continu at H2O9 conference
On September 9, the discussion will continue during the H2O9 Forum Water Conference on adaption to climate change for delta regions in the decades to come.
This forum will take place in New York on 9 and 10 September.
This news item was originally published on the website of the The Netherlands Consulate General in New York.
Read more on this website:
- Flood experts discuss need for storm surge barriers for coastal cities in aftermath of superstorm Sandy (2 November 2012)
- First post-Sandy conference in New York on a long-term flood risk reduction strategy involved Dutch experts (2 January 2013)
- Netherlands, US intensify cooperation on water management, climate resilience and flood preparedness (5 March 2013)
- Delta cities share experiences on flood control and heat waves at C40-workshop in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (10 June 2013)
More information
The Netherlands Consulate General
New York, USA
+1 877 388 2443
www.ny.the-netherlands.org/key-topics/water-management.html
H2O9 Forum water conference
www.henryhudson400.com/h209/index.php
LinkedIn Group
DutchAmerican-Collaboration-PostSandy
Rockaway's wooden boardwalk destoyed by superstorm Sandy on 29-30 october 2012.