EPA and Flood Risk

1
EPA and Flood Risk Programs and Perspectives

• Rob Wood
• Acting Deputy Office Director
• Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• National Flood Risk Management Summit
• July 14, 2009
• wood.robert_at_epa.gov

2
EPA Goals and Flood Risk Management

• Protect and restore wetlands
• Replicate natural hydrology in watersheds
• Reconnect rivers and streams to their
  floodplains
• Anticipate climate change impacts
• Support green infrastructure
• These goals also improve water quality, protect
  drinking water, and restore aquatic and
  terrestrial habitats.

3
EPAs Goals Align with Floodplain Management
Vision

• FEMAs document A Unified National Program for
  Floodplain Management, and
• ASFPMs policy paper Natural and Beneficial
  Functions Floodplain Management More than
  Flood Loss Reduction
• emphasize that the co-equal goals of floodplain
  management are to
• Reduce the loss of life and property caused by
  floods, and
• Protect and restore the natural resources and
  functions of floodplains.

4
Wetlands Natures Flood Protection

• Flood services
• Store and release floodwater over a period of
  time.
• Reduce flood volume and velocity.
• Lower downstream flood stages.
• Coastal wetlands such as marshes and mangrove
  swamps buffer storm surge

5
Loss of Wetlands Causes Flooding

• Over 60 days of floodwater storage once existed
  in the bottomland hardwood forests along the
  Mississippi River.
• Only 12 days storage remains today.

6
Wetlands Restoration Supports Flood Reduction

• EPA collaborates with the USACE, States, Tribes
  and other partners to restore ecosystems while
  achieving other benefits such as flood
  protection, water quality improvements, and
  habitat restoration.
• EPA is working with the USACE on the Louisiana
  Coastal Protection and Restoration Study
• EPA has been an active member of the UMR/IWW
  System Navigation Study principals and technical
  groups
• EPA is working with its partners to restore
  wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
  through EPA grants and with technical assistance.

7
EPA Efforts to Address Coastal Wetlands

• Coastal Wetlands Initiative
• Improve EPA understanding and educate key
  stakeholders on
• Functions and values of coastal wetlands
• Factors contributing to loss in specific
  geographic areas
• Programs and strategies to protect and restore
  coastal wetlands
• Encourage collaboration among federal state,
  state, and local, and nongovernmental partners
  involved in planning, preservation, and
  restoration efforts in coastal watersheds.

8
EPA Goal Reduce Increased Runoff From
Development

• Increasing imperviousness from urbanization
  causes hydrological modification and adverse
  environmental impacts
• Greatly increased runoff volume
• Stream scouring transport of excess sediment
• Lack of groundwater recharge by infiltration
• Loss of base stream flow between storm events
• Reduction and sometimes elimination of fish and
  macro-invertebrates
• Reducing runoff from development is also
  recognized by FEMA as one tool of flood
  reduction.

9
Low Impact Development Contributes to Flood
Reduction

• EPA promotes practices that mimic natural
  processes to manage stormwater where it falls
• Infiltration
• Evapotranspiration
• Reuse
• Roadside swales instead of pipes, permeable
  pavements, bioretention, green roofsmany
  practices can be used

10
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

• Sec. 438. Storm Water Runoff Requirements
  for Federal Development Projects. The sponsor of
  any development or redevelopment project
  involving a Federal facility with a footprint
  that exceeds 5,000 square feet shall use site
  planning, design, construction, and maintenance
  strategies for the property to maintain or
  restore, to the maximum extent technically
  feasible, the predevelopment hydrology of the
  property with regard to the temperature, rate,
  volume, and duration of flow.

11
Conventional
12
Low Impact Development

• Starting to be adopted by local communities to
  achieve multiple objectives.
• Now a standard for Federal Facility development
• EPA working to promote the use of low impact
  development as the standard design technique in
  development and redevelopment
• The National Research Council (2008) recommended
  a shift in the regulation of stormwater to
  include flow volume, in addition to quality

13
Clean Water State Revolving Fund

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the
  Stimulus Bill, targeted 20 of the 4 billion
  in Clean Water State Revolving Funds for Green
  Infrastructure, which included funding for green
  stormwater projects.
• Green Infrastructure refers to systems or
  practices that use or mimic natural hydrological
  conditions.
• Funds for green infrastructure under SRF will
  continue.
• Examples include protecting floodplains and
  riparian areas, pocket wetlands, permeable
  pavement, green roofs, etc.

14
Climate Change

• Need to prepare for the uncertainties in future
  flood frequency and intensity base, or reference
  conditions, of storms are changing due to climate
  shifts
• EPA is working on adaptation to address
  short-term changes. For example, Climate Ready
  Estuaries is assessing, testing, and
  implementing coastal adaptation projects through
  the National Estuary Program.

15
Working Together

• Our goals complement each other
• Protecting floodplains and wetlands reduces flood
  damages
• Restoring watershed hydrology reduces flooding
  and protects water resources.
• Improving interagency communication and
  collaboration will facilitate effective
  implementation of flood risk management and
  environmental protection.

16
EPA Contacts

• John McShane Floodplain Management
  mcshane.john_at_epa.gov
• Lisa Hair Low Impact Development
  hair.lisa_at_epa.gov
• Tim Landers Wetlands
• landers.tim_at_epa.gov
• John Wilson Climate Ready Estuaries
• wilson.john_at_epa.gov

17
Green Roof, Chicago City Hall
Street Curb Rain Garden Portland, OR