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Step 5: Put Your Community’s Plan into Action

No matter how well thought out your flood and stormwater management plan is, without putting that plan into action your community will continue to face flood and stormwater management challenges. Implementing flood and stormwater management plans isn’t just a one time decision. It is a dynamic process that involves regular communication between decision-makers and technical staff to adapt to changing conditions, lessons learned, and new data.  

Navigate the Flood Step 5 sets out ways technical staff can execute flood and stormwater management plans as well as guidance for baking adaptive management strategies into implementation to ensure ongoing monitoring and performance data inform regular updates and improvements to your community’s operation of flood and stormwater systems. Explore Subsections (a)-(e) below to take Step 5 towards navigating the flood. Each Subsection includes case studies and technical and financial resources that will help you put your community’s dynamic flood and stormwater management plan into action.

Culminating at Step 5 Navigate the Flood guides local decision-makers and managers and staff through the multifaceted process of planning for and building sustainable, resilient, and equitable stormwater and flood management systems. Stay in the flow and dive into the Guide’s deep well of technical and financial resources in the All Resources library. Looking for a way to connect with experts who can provide hands-on support and practical guidance? Access the Guide’s Technical Resources Providers for even more technical, managerial, operational, and financial resources.

(a) After considering steps 1- 4, choose a set of managerial and technical solutions to address the flooding and polluted stormwater runoff challenges in your community.

  • Develop an action plan to meet regulatory requirements
    • In an action plan, the “hows” become more specific and serve to assign the “who,” “what,” “where,” and “when” to each action
  • Develop an action plan for addressing any inequities in current programs or creating equity in new programs 
  • Capture intentions and efforts into existing reporting or strategic planning requirements 

Case Study

Technical

Financial

(b) Clearly outline an implementation roadmap.

  • Decide whether technical projects can be conducted in-house, or if an outside consultant/bid is required
  • For technical/ infrastructure projects, develop a project timeline and design
    (in-house or contract bid)
  • Continue to engage the community  to ensure residents are involved in the planning and decision making process
    • Critical questions at this point in the process: Is the solution you’re choosing in-line with the vision the residents have for their community? Was the community actively involved in the solution decision making process?
  • Develop a design, implementation and maintenance contract

Case Study

Technical

(c) Implement the solution.

  • Reference project management templates, structures etc.
  • Assess and ensure internal capacity around contractor management to ensure implementation takes place as specified in the contract
  • Strive for grant or low-interest loan funding opportunities
  • Leverage partnerships with other entities to jointly seek funding opportunities to minimize rate impacts and maximize funding and co-benefits

Case Study

Technical

Financial

(d) Conduct continuous and adaptive monitoring.

  • Be aware of and continuously reference permit reporting requirements
  • Include stakeholder feedback
  • Consider future climate change risks
  • Keep an eye out for new technologies

Case Study

(e) Develop and continuously revise operation and maintenance strategies while considering opportunities for new/more efficient revenue sources.

  • Explore potential public private partnerships to implement projects on private land 
  • Explore incentive programs for projects to be conducted on private land 
  • Explore opportunities for land acquisition

Technical

Financial

All Step 5 Resources

City of Tigard Stormwater Master Plan | 2017

The Plan addresses Tigard’s existing flooding, water quality, erosion, and maintenance issues, and provides several corresponding recommendations.
Type:Case Study

Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority: A Wet Weather Case Study of Incorporating Community Interests into Effective Infrastructure Decision Makings | US EPA, 2018

See specific sections: The Problem: Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), Need for a Long-Term Control Plan, and Camden’s Sewershed Alternatives Analysis
Type:Case Study

The Building Blocks of An Effective Stormwater Management Plan | MOST, 2015

This tool is a free 1.5 hour online course designed to provide skills to develop an effective stormwater management plan and communicating the basics
Type:Technical

Enacting, Implementing & Funding Stormwater Programs | NACWA, 2016

This resource is a white paper that provides legal considerations for funding municipal stormwater programs.
Type:Technical

Federal and State Funding Programs- Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Projects | US EPA, 2017

This resource provides a list of 23 federal and state grant opportunities for stormwater and green infrastructure projects.
Type:Financial

Guidance for Municipal Stormwater Funding | US EPA, 2006

This resource provides a series of high-level stormwater funding and financing considerations.
Type:Financial

Funding Stormwater Programs | US EPA, 2008

This resource is intended to assist local stormwater managers understand the alternatives available to fund their stormwater program.
Type:Financial

Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Grants | FEMA

Funds available for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to property insured by the National Flood Insurance Program.
Type:Financial

State Revolving Fund (SRF) Resources | Southwest Environmental Finance Center

This resource provides a repository of information for each state's State Revolving Fund programs. Click on a state to navigate to its resources.
Type:Financial

One Water Roadmap | US Water Alliance, 2016

See specific sections: Watershed-scale thinking and action, Arenas for Action and Arenas and Strategies for Action to work on developing goals
Type:Technical

Stormwater Financing and Outreach | UMD EFC

This resource provides a series of stormwater and flood management case studies.
Type:Case Study

Operations and Maintenance Plans by infrastructure Type | The City of Portland Oregon, 2020

This resource describes various stormwater infrastructure types as well as “most popular” and “most recent” deployed in various settings.
Type:Technical

Create a Municipal Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Plan | Land Studies, 2020

This resource is for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) communities and details pollution prevention and best management practices.
Type:Technical

Stormwater Facilities Operation and Maintenance Plan | XYZ Corporation, 2018

This document provides example Inspection and Maintenance Logs and how to respond when responsible individuals change.
Type:Technical

Community Led Research Toolkit | River Network, 2021

This resources provides tools for equitable climate resilience and fostering community-led research and knowledge.
Type:Case Study

Potential Funding Sources, New Jersey Stormwater Utility Resource Center | New Jersey Futures, 2020

This resource describes the usage of fees to fund the planning work to create a stormwater utility and tabulates various funding opportunities.
Type:Financial

Stormwater Fees: Overview of Municipal Stormwater Fee Programs | PEC, 2019

Key sections include: stormwater within your municipality, stormwater fee calculations, and development and implementation.
Type:Financial

The Water Center at Penn and WaterNow Alliance Flood and Stormwater Management Guide

With support from the Kresge Foundation

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