• Potential impacts of flooding challenges
  • Infrastructure & Homes
    • Destruction and or damage of roads, bridges, paths, buildings, homes, infrastructure, and crops disrupting current and future economic activity
    • Power cuts that may disrupt water treatment
    • Displacement
  • Environment
    • Increased erosion and sediment mobility
    • Excessive sediment, nutrients and pollutants such as heavy metals and debris leading to degradation of water quality, ecological biodiversity, and adjacent soil health
    • Loss of livestock
  • Public Health
    • Increased risk of infection, particularly for humans living in neighborhoods with  combined sewer systems, in which wastewater may end up in the basement of homes
    • Increased risk of waterborne illnesses
    • Mold in homes and/or buildings and associated health challenges
    • Drowning
    • Injuries
    • Trauma/ Mental health challenge
• *Note: pay particular attention to the most vulnerable, low-lying neighborhoods in your community and ensure that there are not disproportionate burdens for low-income, immobile residents.

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Technical

Financial

• Review mapping of flood incidences in community and/or on national flood map
• Identify and analyze neighborhood susceptibility to flooding in relation to income and mobility 
• Identify and analyze the economic impact of flooding 
• Conduct a future flood risk analysis, and identify asset and community vulnerabilities re: aging infrastructure
• Consider climate change risk factors impacting the likelihood of future floods

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Technical

Financial

• Potential stormwater runoff challenges:
  • Environmental
    • Increased pathogen and nutrient contamination of waterways
    • Occurrence of harmful algal blooms in larger water bodies
    • Degradation of aquatic systems
  • Public Health
    • Non-point source and point source pollution that impact recreational waterways and drinking water supplies
    • Bacteriological impacts as stormwater passes over impervious urban and suburban streets, parking lots, roofs, and lawns
    • Consumption of seafood from contaminated waters
    • Pollutants often found in urban and suburban stormwater runoff which can lead to toxic effects in humans
      • Copper, zinc, lead, insecticides
  • Infrastructure, Homes, and other Economic considerations
    • Impairments to fisheries, shellfish, tourism, and recreation related businesses

Technical

Financial

• Identify and analyze neighborhood susceptibility to impacts from polluted stormwater runoff by mapping or reviewing maps that indicate impervious surfaces and topographical grade
• Conduct a future stormwater risk analysis, and identify asset and community vulnerabilities re: water quality impacts
• Ensure robust street cleaning and leaf removing plans
  • Connect with other departments or utilities responsible for street cleanings
  • Streets that are not cleaned can lead to clogged inlets and disrupt efforts to reduce impacts of polluted stormwater runoff

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Technical

• Areas of flooding often overlap with inexpensive properties, where homeowners often can’t afford or are ineligible for flood insurance
  • Opportunities for assistance should be explored
• Include community member statements regarding their experiences with flooding in their neighborhoods
• A greater shift towards more equitable decision making can be achieved by supplementing the internal problem identification process with a robust and ongoing community engagement
• In order to effectively prioritize, decision makers must:
  • Consider community members as the holders of expertise and knowledge
  • Listen to the challenges they face, the solutions they offer, and acknowledge their visions for the community. Reference the Stakeholder Engagement Plan

• Particularly in a combined sewer system, consider where sewer overflows are happening more often 
• In CSO or MS4 system, consider which communities are negatively impacted by polluted stormwater runoff
• Work with upstream and downstream neighbors when developing equitable solutions
• Include community member statements regarding their experiences with stormwater runoff in their neighborhoods.
• A greater shift towards more equitable decision making can be achieved by supplementing the internal problem identification process with a robust and ongoing community engagement
• In order to effectively prioritize, decision makers must:
  • Consider community members as the holders of expertise and knowledge
  • Listen to the challenges they face, the solutions they offer, and acknowledge their visions for the community. Reference the Stakeholder Engagement Plan

• Develop internal scoring metrics that reflect priorities agreed upon after identifying flooding and polluted stormwater runoff challenges
• Develop a range of environmental, social, and economic (“Triple Bottom Line”)  criteria to assist in the decision making process when prioritizing strategies to address flooding and polluted stormwater runoff challenges

Case Study

Technical

• Long term planning should include goals, and actionable steps to achieve those goals with a 5, 10, or 25 year timeline depending on the scope and level of innovation
  • Consider and prioritize the following: rate/fee structure, feasibility/appropriateness of developing a stormwater utility, aging and overwhelmed infrastructure, continued urbanization and increase impervious services, localized flooding, basement back-ups, coastal retreat, green and gray solutions to manage stormwater, need for long-term control plan (LTCP)
• Crisis planning should include a representative set of planning scenarios, identify a response team, as well as outline steps to address assets/ elements that may require immediate action
  • At the time of developing the crisis plan, create an emergency budget and fund 
  • Within the response team there should be  a designated chain of command and clear communication channels 

Case Study