Flooding and Green Infrastructure in the Town of Tewksbury
Use this StoryMap to learn about flooding issues in Tewksbury and steps the town is taking to manage this and improve climate resiliency
We all have our own idea of what we consider flooding. A wetland with standing water is natural, but standing water in your backyard or basement might be flooding. A puddle in the road might be annoying when you're in a car, but when it means you can't walk to your work or home, it could be flooding.
Climate change and flooding
When it rains in natural areas, water gets absorbed into the soil, acting as a natural storage area. The rest of the water flows slowly over the ground and into a waterway, like a stream or river. When these waterways get too full, they overflow onto their floodplains, creating another natural storage area. This flooded area also creates important habitat for aquatic plant and animal species.
Figure 1: Flooding from rainfall in a natural area
Flip through the slides from the US EPA below to learn about different types of green infrastructure elements. Not only does green infrastructure help reduce flooding, but it also has other benefits like providing shade, filtering water to improve water quality, providing green spaces, improving air quality, and more.
Below are three renderings of potential green infrastructure improvements in Tewksbury. These are only examples, but can provide a great idea of what is possible!
Stormwater can have a big impact on your property, and properly managing it can help prevent localized flooding as well as improve local waterways and ecosystems. This guide from the Lancaster Country Conservation District in Pennsylvania will give you step-by-step instructions on how to assess how much runoff is being generated on your property, understand how stormwater moves across your property, and then tips to build and implement a stormwater management plan.
Rain barrels are containers used to collect rain water from the roof of a building via the gutter and downspout, preventing pollutants from ending up in local waterways as well as capturing water to prevent localized flooding. Keeping and using rain water on your property helps reduce pollution and erosion and improves local watershed health.
This StoryMap was developed as a part of a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant received by the Town of Tewksbury in partnership with the Merrimack River Watershed Council and Weston and Sampson. Created in 2017 as part of Governor Baker’s Executive Order 569, the MVP program pairs local leadership and knowledge with a significant investment of resources and funding from the Commonwealth to address ongoing climate change impacts like sea level rise, inland flooding, storms, and extreme temperatures.