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Description

Rural coastal communities in Maine are increasingly vulnerable to stormwater flooding due to the effects of climate change. Coastal flooding from storm surge, inland flooding and intense precipitation overwhelm the stormwater drainage systems at an increased frequency and severity. Failures in proper functioning of this infrastructure is mostly attributed to the increase in frequency of occurrence of floods. To support rural communities in adapting to climatic changes, it is necessary to assess the multifaceted aspects of stormwater management, including infrastructure cleaning and maintenance practices, decision making process, and policy frameworks. Effective and sustainable solutions to these problems require a bottom-up approach at a community level tailored to the requirements of Maine’s rural coastal communities, with a particular focus on the interlinked components of the built infrastructure (for example, roads and culverts). Therefore, this study will use semi-structured interviews with the town officials to study the existing stormwater management and maintenance practices and guidelines used locally to find the existing gaps and required sustainable and cost-effective improvements. Preliminary interviews with town officials indicated that stormwater infrastructure maintenance and management are mostly overlooked because of inadequate capacity and availability of funds. Reactive decisions are taken rather than proactive decisions, ultimately increasing the expense. Further interviews and literature review are underway and may provide additional insights into potential solutions.

Publication Date

10-28-2024

Stormwater Management Systems in Rural Coastal Maine: Identification of place-based solutions through study of current practices

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