Dear Editor:

Wiscasset is considering building a berm around our sewer plant or moving it to higher ground with cost estimates of $20-$40 million and is looking for funding from FEMA. The concern is driven by headlines such as “Hottest year ever” and “Sea level is rising, and it is accelerating!”

The Dutch, with more than 25% of their country below sea level, keep careful track of the data. The following are quotes copied from their website, Government of the Netherlands. “Sea levels along the Dutch coast show a steady, linear increase over the past 125 years. There are six stations with unique lengths. They all start before the year 1890. Analysis of the sea level data averaged over six stations, do not show any acceleration. This is also true for recent years. The sea level along the Dutch coast steadily rose by about 23 cm during the last 125 years, a change of 1.9 mm per year. This is roughly in line with the sea-level rise worldwide; about 22 cm over the same period.”

Author’s comment – 1.9 millimeter (mm) is about .07 inches or about one inch in 13 years or 7 inches in 100 years. The change has been linear even as atmospheric CO2 increased 50%, from 280 ppm to a reported 420 ppm. Historically, post-glacial warming causes a linear increase in ocean levels until a cooling cycle reverses the process. I hope all are using sound scientific numbers in their decisions.

Joe Grant

Wiscasset