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Excess Precipitation
With a change in climate as projected by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, our state is experiencing changing precipitation patterns. A greater frequency of heavy precipitation events is predicted during the spring, winter, and fall. Flooding and erosion often result from heavy rains. These conditions can have cascading impacts throughout the community and landscape. While communities cannot prevent these events from occurring, taking steps to prepare for them can lessen impacts to people, animals, land, and property while reducing the length of recovery time and costs.
Who and What Will be Affected
To enhance community resilience, a systemic approach needs to be pursued; therefore, it is important to consider all aspects of how and where heavy precipitation is likely to affect a community. Often, lower-income and marginalized people are affected the most by extreme precipitation events due to their community’s location, lack of options to avoid flood impacts or recover from them. Marginalized people often live or have businesses in areas prone to flooding and may have lesser means to obtain shelter in safe areas and respond to flood damage. Paying close attention to how these community members are affected will benefit the entire community.
Wisconsin’s climate projection indicates an increased frequency of intense rainfall events. Short and long-term impacts can result from heavy rain. As water rises and landscapes erode, maintaining safety for everyone within the flooded area, before and after the event, is of utmost importance. Flooding and erosion can damage roads, bridges, structures, and other properties. A community’s ability to maintain real-time communication about road closures, emergency evacuations, and temporary shelters is essential.
Floodwater can contain chemical and microbial contaminants, posing health concerns for those in direct contact with the water. The floodwater can also result in increased algal blooms in ponds, lakes, and rivers. Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) can be toxic, affecting animal and human health and sometimes death. Drinking water can also be contaminated when the floodwaters surpass the top of an improperly sealed drinking water well.
Flooding and Stormwater Management
Within the built environment and throughout the landscape, buildings, homes, and other structures are subject to impacts from flooding. Roads may flood or be damaged if the stormwater management systems are not capable of handling additional rain or snowmelt occurring over a short period of time. Managing stormwater at many locations throughout the watershed reduces the amount of water needing costly-engineered management. Evaluating how water is managed on the land through natural infiltration, storage in wetlands, and ponding in low-lying areas should be conducted in addition to equipping storm systems to withstand heavier precipitation events.
Wetlands offer a number of ecosystem services including floodwater storage, water filtration, habitat, and carbon sequestration. Protecting and re-establishing wetlands increases the resiliency of Wisconsin communities while locking up carbon that contributes to climate change.
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Equity & Environmental Justice
Equity & Environmental Justice – Equity and justice should be included with each part of the menu. As you explore each menu, consider the most vulnerable populations within your community. Be sure to include and prioritize these groups as you develop and plan your efforts.
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- Include people from homeless, lower-income, and other marginalized populations in resilience discussions and planning. Consider where these populations are living and include and prioritize these areas in planning efforts:
- A diverse group of collaborators representing tribal, academic, intertribal and government entities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, developed a framework to integrate indigenous and traditional knowledge, culture, language and history into the climate adaptation planning process.
Education & Information
Education & Information – provides education and information ideas and resources. These are intended to be some of the first steps a community can take to address certain subsections.
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- Increase knowledge about current and projected changes in precipitation in Wisconsin:
- Explore hazards, assess vulnerability and risk, investigate options, prioritize and plan, take action:
- Learn about stormwater management to help incentivize the implementation of on-site stormwater management such as rain barrels and rain gardens and create demonstration sites on municipal properties:
- Assess and address flooding issues:
- Explore climate hazards: check past weather events and future climate trends, assess land cover, identify what is important to protect:
- Explore case studies to understand how other communities have addressed these challenges:
- Learn about health hazards associated with flooding:
- Look at how to prepare for and respond to a flooding event:
- Explore and understand the benefits of zoning and other setback standards:
- Learn about impacts to lakes and rivers:
- Learn about wetland projects and how to get assistance developing strategies from the Climate Change Response Framework:
- Resources for local governments:
- Identify vulnerable natural communities:
- Learn about what numerous communities are doing to be wildlife-friendly amidst numerous climate changes, including increased heat, drought, and flooding:
Low-Cost Strategies
Low-Cost Strategies – are focused on strategies and accompanying resources that usually will not require intensive staff capacity, fiscal resources, and maybe done through staff decisions.
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- Develop a response plan for toxic blue-green algal blooms in local lakes and rivers:
- Manage runoff to lessen high flow impacts by reducing impervious surfaces and using stormwater retention ponds, protected and constructed wetlands and swales, green roofs for cooler buildings and better water and air quality, and low-impact design:
- Establish a rain garden program:
- Establish a program using green infrastructure:
- Implement proactive zoning and land-use policies that promote development in areas of low vulnerability to flooding:
- Protect groundwater using models to predict groundwater impacts on development; avoid building adjacent to internally drained areas and identify those areas using mapping tools:
- Implement urban forestry department or program at city or county level:
Significant Resource Deployment
Significant Resource Deployment – are strategies that may require more staff capacity, increased fiscal resources, and larger, possibly cohesive decisions.
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- Flood proof buildings in vulnerable locations:
- Create incentives to manage stormwater runoff on-site (commercial and residential) using green infrastructure: rain barrels, rain gardens, green roofs, and rain-capturing cisterns:
- Upgrade urban storm drains and best management practices based on recent hydrologic modeling and climate predictions:
- Develop stormwater management strategies with municipalities in the watershed:
Celebrating Successes
Celebrating Successes – are actions and strategies for communities to celebrate and keep the momentum going. They will help address positive outcomes of previous strategies taken and inspire further action.
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- Conduct demonstrations, tours, and presentations showcasing some of the successful projects that highlight climate mitigation and adaptation practices, such as green infrastructure.
- Highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of businesses and other organizations that have implemented conservation practices and climate resiliency measures successfully, such as rain gardens.
Grants & Funding
Grants & Funding – help communities support actions through financial means such as grants and other resources.
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- Funding Strategies for Flood Mitigation:
- A federal emergency recovery program to help communities recover from natural disaster events such as flooding:
- A new FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation program to support states, local communities, tribes, and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects to reduce the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards:
- Technical and financial resources for stormwater and flood management:
- List of federal green infrastructure implementation funding opportunities:
- Wisconsin DNR Flood Grants Program:
- Wisconsin DNR funding for rain gardens, rock infiltration, and native vegetation near water bodies:
- Urban forestry grants to cities, villages, towns, counties, tribes, and non-profit organizations:
- Preserve important natural communities, protect water quality and fisheries, and expand opportunities for outdoor recreation:
- Funding for the repair or reconstruction of Federal-aid highways that have experienced major damage from natural disasters or other externally-caused catastrophic failures:
