Action Plan for Nature-based Stormwater Strategies: Promoting Natural Designs that Reduce Flooding and Improve Water Quality

The Federation worked with the Pew Charitable Trusts, the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, N.C. Department of Administration, and Governor Roy Cooper’s office to organize a stakeholder session on the application of nature-based solutions under Executive Order 266. The event was held on May 10, 2023. Over 50 participants joined Gov. Cooper’s Policy Advisor and representatives of the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency and N.C. Department of Administration in Raleigh for the stakeholder session on incorporating nature-based solutions in the State’s Uniform Floodplain Management Policy update. The event was a kickoff session to gain input and ideas for the policy update that is called for in Gov. Cooper’s Executive Order 266.

Leaders in the N.C. General Assembly, Governor’s Office, and across state agencies, have taken big steps and made great progress in ramping up statewide momentum to utilize nature and nature-based strategies to address flooding and water quality concerns and increase resiliency.

As a Key recommendation of the Action Plan for Nature-based Stormwater Strategies, in July 2022, Gov. Roy Cooper issued Executive Order 266 to ensure all state construction projects are flood-resilient. This action aims to limit new construction in areas that are prone to flooding, and use innovative designs and materials to help buildings withstand floodwaters. The executive order also emphasizes using effective and efficient nature-based infrastructure to reduce flood damages to state property and the costs that taxpayers shoulder after a disaster. Read More >

In 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $20 million dollars to develop a Statewide Flood Resiliency Blueprint (Blueprint). The Blueprint is intended to be a decision-making tool, foundational to the state flood planning process to determine how and where resources should be allocated and to determine flood resiliency projects that should be implemented to increase community resiliency to flooding. The Blueprint will be applied within river basins affected by past and future flood-related losses. The Blueprint is a key recommendation in the Action Plan for Nature-based Stormwater Strategies Action Plan.

Recognizing the value of nature-based strategies, the North Carolina Land and Water Fund appropriated $15 million in the FY 2021-22 State budget to establish a flood risk reduction grant program to prioritize the design, implementation, and preservation of nature-based infrastructure. Read More >

The N.C. Division of Water Infrastructure is currently awarding approximately $82 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) stormwater project funding through the N.C. Local Assistance for Stormwater Infrastructure Investments (LASII) program. The fund gives higher priority to nature-based strategies. Read More >

Following adoption of the Action Plan for Nature-based Stormwater Strategies, the N.C. Division of Coastal Management developed a set of Principles and Guidelines for Financial Support of Coastal Resiliency Projects (make a link see below) to guide the agency’s coastal resiliency funding program. This type of nature-based strategy prioritization is consistent with Governor Cooper’s North Carolina’s Natural and Working Lands Action Plan and Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan (2020).

DOT includes a Hydraulics Unit that’s part of its Highway Stormwater Program (HSP) that works diligently to protect and improve water quality. Over the past several years they have embraced nature-based stormwater strategies in their planning, design and construction. In 2015, they installed an innovative stormwater retrofit project near the Lockwood Folly River in Brunswick County, providing new technology to reduce bacteria, nitrogen, phosphorous, and suspended solids from reaching the river. The team has also installed multiple stormwater retrofits across the state including a current retrofit project on Cedar Street in Beaufort, N.C. and the construction of a living shoreline project in Cedar Point.

In 2020 the DOT Hydraulics Unit and additional DOT staff served a critical role in developing the Nature-based Stormwater Strategies Action Plan released by the Federation and The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2021. DOT is currently updating their stormwater design manual to include more nature-based stormwater policies and design standards for transportation projects. The Unit is on the cutting edge of research and advancement of effective stormwater management.