The North Carolina Coastal Federation has released a new "Action Plan for Nature-based Stormwater Strategies" that will serve both as a blueprint for future development and for retrofits of existing roadways and structures.
These strategies, when implemented, can lessen the impact of localized flooding and water pollution for North Carolinians from the mountains to the coast.
Ward and Smith environmental attorney Amy Wang served on one of the four work groups that met over the course of a year and provided input to the plan authors. She is serving as one of the spokespeople from the Stormwater Retrofit of Existing Land Use Work Group for the plan rollout, with the goal of addressing specific questions regarding retrofit recommendations.
Amy said, "This plan addresses runoff holistically. Rain events don't respect property or municipal lines, so it is, quite literally, everyone's problem. Each of the four work groups involved in developing the action plan formed key recommendations with input from all stakeholders, including business, conservation, government, and research institutions. We all came at North Carolina's stormwater issues with the idea that by working together, we could suggest reasonable, cost-effective solutions to the stormwater problems our state faces, and prevent future issues related to nuisance flooding and increasing runoff in North Carolina."
The North Carolina Coastal Federation is a member-supported nonprofit with the goal of "protecting and restoring North Carolina's coast." The Nature-based Stormwater Strategies Action Plan was produced with support from The Pew Charitable Trust. The report was formed with the input of more than 60 experts in the public and private sectors and was a year in the making.
Readers can access the full plan here, and the press release announcing the launch here. The press packet, including examples of nature-based stormwater projects from around the state, may be found here.
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