Threading puddles : stormwater management as a way to address the impact of Miami\u27s future fresh water shortage due to increasing water demand and saltwater intrusion

The city of Miami will face significant challenges in the future of changing climate. Compared with other cities in Florida, Miami is lucky to have the abundant groundwater resource from its surficial aquifer —Biscayne aquifer, which provides potable water for 3 million people of the region. But, as climate change progresses, Florida is expected to experience warmer temperature, more prolong drought, higher precipitation events and more intense storms. All these factors will influence the hydrologic system and current water management due to the uncertainty. Climate variability will dictate the amount of water available to replenish the suificial aquifer. The low-lying land of the region limits the capacity of water storage. Thus, the Everglades fresh wetland and water conservation area are extremely important for storing water and meeting the needs of continuous development of the city, which will likely be compromised because of sea level rise. Saltwater Intrusion has been the result of historical water management and will keep threatening to the fresh water aquifer and wetlands. Increasing sea level rise will complicate the problem. The thesis began to use the lens of landscape architecture to understand the water management historically and nowadays, the mechanism of the aquifer and proposed adaptation strategies of aquifer recharging through stormwater management and increasing public awareness of the water issues