Tide gates are a common flood prevention structure for areas in a tidal zone. Tide gates close during incoming tides to prevent inundation from downstream water propagating inland, and they open during outgoing tides to drain upland areas. The tide gates at the Site were not specifically designed to address sea level rise; however, the Site will continue to be regulated under the stormwater management requirements of the City of Philadelphia and the PADEP, which includes provisions for sea level rise.
An additional question was subsequently provided to the above:
Here’s another example of where responses could be clearer. In response to questions about tide gates, the answer on the site is (partly):
“The tide gates at the Site were not specifically designed to address sea level rise; however, the Site will continue to be regulated under the stormwater management requirements of the City of Philadelphia and the PADEP which includes provisions for sea level rise.”
But it would be good to citations of these claims – what documents are these requirements contained in, and where can they be found? As it is the answer is kind of an answer but not very useful.
Response:
The tide gate was installed by Sunoco long ago and it was installed specifically to address oil in the sewer at the time. There are remediation systems in place to address the potential for oil to migrate into those sewers; therefore, in the future the tide gate may not be necessary. As noted, climate change is something that will be included in the fate and transport modeling which will be presented in the Fate and Transport RIR. Any climate change resources used in future modeling efforts will be referenced in the Fate and Transport RIR and the Cleanup Plan.