Project Slows Down Amount of Stormwater Runoff

Increased stormwater runoff from urbanization is causing nuisance and dangerous street flooding along the North Carolina coast. It’s also the number-one threat to water quality, leading to beach-swimming advisories and shellfish-harvesting closures.

A project team led by the North Carolina Coastal Federation and the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve applied stormwater reduction techniques to ease the volume entering the Masonboro Sound and local waterways in Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington. The effort included retrofitting sites to divert runoff into grassed or vegetated areas for infiltration, applying green infrastructure practices such as rain gardens and pervious surfaces, and monitoring pre- and post-water quality conditions to determine the project effectiveness. (2016)

More information: www.nerra.org/projects/stormwater-solutions-for-north-carolina

Partners: City of Wilmington, New Hanover County Soil and Water Conservation District, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, Town of Wrightsville Beach, University of North Carolina Wilmington