Climate Resilience

Nature-based Solutions for Flooding

Municipal Officials & Professionals

Backyard & Neighborhoods

Land Managers or Stewards

Youth, Parents & Teachers

A successful plan to reduce flooding in your community should involve both the implementation of shovel-in-the-ground projects as well as long range planning for land protection, bylaws and zoning regulations, and education/advocacy. There are three main strategies that will help with flood reduction, and each has associated Nature-based Solutions. Note that many NbS for flooding also help to reduce drought conditions.

Nature-Based Strategy 1:

Infiltrate Stormwater

Allow stormwater to soak into the ground where it has fallen rather than running off the landscape.

Nature-based Solutions

Rain gardens
Porous pavements
De-paving
Soil restoration
Amend soils in lawns
Convert lawns to meadows
Bioswales

Nature-Based Strategy 2:

Increase Stormwater Storage

Create natural places for stormwater to gather safely to be slowly released into the landscape over time.

Nature-based Solutions

Restore/create floodplains
Restore/create wetlands
Restore/create meanders & oxbows
Headwater detention basins
Retention basins
Daylight streams
Rainwater harvesting

Nature-Based Strategy 3:

Slow the Flow

Reduce the speed at which water is traveling over the landscape by creating obstacles and avoiding channeling.

Nature-based Solutions

Restore/create meander & /oxbows
Fill channels in wetlands, forests & meadows
Fill erosion channels
Avoid soil compaction
Leave coarse woody debris in forests during harvesting

Site Studies: Flooding

Flooding is a major issue in our focus communities. This collection of case studies identifies specific sites in each focus community that identified flooding as a key issue. Each Site Study includes a map with site-specific NbS recommendations, a link to the site on an interactive DataViewer, and Nature-based Solutions Project Templates for the recommended NbS. Maps in our Nashua River Watershed-wide Map Atlas can also be useful in looking at land cover and areas of impervious cover that may be prone to flooding. Because flooding is such an extensive issue, we encourage you to further explore additional sites and solutions through each town-specific NbS Recommendations Report (links below).

Ashburnham

Fitchburg

Groton

Leominster

Pepperell

We would also encourage you to look at the 2025 MVP project being conducted by Townsend, “Climate Resilience Drainage Masterplan”, in which NRWA is a supporting partner.

Long range efforts to reduce flooding

Protect, plan, educate, and advocate

Increase infiltration with retention basins, rain gardens and porous pavement
Establish zoning to limit impervious cover
Identify sub-watersheds that are vulnerable to flooding and create bylaws with increased stormwater storage and infiltration requirements
Protect land for forests, wetlands and greenways
Promote natural flow patterns including by daylighting streams
Encourage de-paving
Restore soils and prevent compaction