What the City is Doing About Flooding

CLIMATE RESILIENCE

The Office of Climate Resilience coordinates Boston’s all-of-government approach to plan and implement projects, policies, and programs that lower the risk of coastal flooding to Boston’s neighborhoods. Between 2017 and 2022, Coastal Resilience Plans were completed for each of Boston's five coastal neighborhoods, including Charlestown, Dorchester, Downtown/North End, East Boston, and South Boston. Today, coastal resilience projects are being implemented across the city's waterfront to reduce coastal flood risk for Boston's communities and safeguard our city's future in the face of climate change. 

Visit Boston.gov/climate-resilience to learn more about Boston's citywide climate resilience work.

BOSTON CONSERVATION COMMISSION

The Boston Conservation Commission enhances the quality of life in Boston by protecting water and land resources The Commission has jurisdiction around wetland resource areas including the 100-year FEMA floodplain, or in, on, or within 100 feet of a beach, creek, stream, river, lake, pond, marsh, or swamp. They issue permits for projects in these areas that remove, fill, dredge, or alter them.  

The Commission is working on new regulations that will have additional considerations for climate change, environmental justice, and flood resilient zones.

Visit Boston.gov/conservation to learn more.

BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION

BPHC's Environmental Hazards Program provides free home inspections for environmental hazards which include chronic dampness and mold as the result of chronic leaks or flooding. Residents can access the program through the website or by calling 617-534-5966 or emailing environment@bphc.org.

Boston Public Health also works closely with the MWRA and BWSC to notify the public of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) events that can occur during/after significant rain events.  These are advisories to avoid contact with surface water bodies impacted by a CSO for 48 hours due to the likely presence of untreated sewage and harmful pathogens. More info at our website.

Visit Boston.gov/bphc-environment to learn more.

BOSTON WATER AND SEWER COMMISSION

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) manages the city’s water, sewer, and stormwater systems. The Commission coordinated closely with the City to plan adaptations to protect Boston's shoreline from sea level rise and storm surge. Planned adaptations are captured in the Climate Ready Boston report, a citywide climate vulnerability assessment and strategies to address the impacts of climate change. BWSC undertook the Coastal Stormwater Discharge Analysis to begin the process of adapting Boston’s storm drains to sea level rise and climate change. The full report is available online. The Commission has updated its Citywide 2D flood model to simulate the benefits of coastal stormwater adaptations.

The BWSC also produced the Boston Green Infrastructure Planning and Design Handbook  for both public and private property owners to implement green infrastructure techniques to manage stormwater throughout the City of Boston. 

Visit bwsc.org to learn more.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

The Office of Green Infrastructure (OGI) works collaboratively with City departments to manage stormwater using plants, soil, and other natural materials. These features help prevent flooding and reduce the amount of polluted water that goes to the City’s water bodies.

OGI has several flood-related initiatives—from helping residents get free or discounted rain barrels to providing green infrastructure design guides and gathering information about flood impacts from the public through its flood survey. The office also provides a green job board and hosts volunteer opportunities to engage residents and help fortify Boston against the effects of climate change.

Visit Boston.gov/green-infrastructure to learn more.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Working in close partnership with city, state, regional, and federal entities as well as nonprofits and community organizations, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) helps Boston to prepare for, respond to, mitigate the effects of, and recover from emergencies by:

• Maintaining the City’s emergency plans;
• Conduct training, exercises, and drills;
• Coordinating response efforts through the Emergency Operations Center;
• Educating the public about emergency preparedness; and
• Managing grant funding to support all aspects of the office’s mission.

OEM manages flood sensors to monitor inland flooding throughout the city and partners with Stone Living Lab to monitor coastal flooding. These sensors help city departments to better understand and adapt to flood impacts. 

OEM’s Community Emergency Response Team manages the Pamper Your Drain initiative which allows community members to adopt a stormwater drain in their neighborhood for six months and keep it clean of debris and trash to reduce flooding.

OEM works with owners of large-scale deployable flood barriers to ensure they are prepared for a flood event and to ensure that they are aware of the City’s Temporary Deployable Flood Barrier procedures. OEM and the Office of Climate Resilience cohost Deployables Day, an annual, citywide training exercise on temporary flood protection. When a significant flood event is forecasted, OEM notifies flood barrier owners of potentially dangerous flood conditions. 

If a flood event has a significant impact on the City, the office may provide damage assessment data to the state in support of a request for a disaster declaration that would trigger federal aid. OEM may also help coordinate a disaster recovery center to support residents and business owners who have been impacted by a major flood event or other disaster. 

Visit Boston.gov/emergency to learn more.

INSPECTIONAL SERVICES 

The Inspectional Services Department (ISD) issues building permits for new construction and alterations to existing buildings. Permit applications in high-flood-risk areas are reviewed by a Certified Floodplain Manager to ensure compliance with the flood safety standards of Boston Zoning Article 25 and the Massachusetts building code. To learn more about this review, visit ISD’s Permitting in the Flood Hazard District webpage. 

Visit Boston.gov/inspectional-services.

NEW URBAN MECHANICS

The Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) is the Mayor's civic research and design team that explores and tackles intractable problems with fresh perspectives and leads experiments and prototypes that cover a range of topics. MONUM developed guidance for renters in Boston who may be at risk of flooding. The guide walks renters through how to respond to a flooding event and implement preventative measures to ensure safety in the future. 

Visit Boston.gov/new-urban-mechanics to learn more.

PARKS AND RECREATION

The Boston Parks and Recreation Department creates and maintains clean, green, safe, and accessible open space in more than 2,200 acres of parkland throughout Boston. The department plays a critical role in the city's flood mitigation and adaptation strategy by transforming open spaces into "protective" landscapes. In partnership with several city departments, many of the city’s parks have been redesigned to act as nature-based solutions to combat sea-level rise, storm surge, and extreme precipitation. There are many projects, both in design and construction, to address coastal flooding. These include Ryan Playground and Barry Field in Charlestown, Moakley Park in Dorchester, and Christopher Columbus Park in the North End. Others have been recently renovated to provide this benefit as well. In addition to addressing coastal flooding, the Green Stormwater Infrastructure Design and Implementation Guide outlines the City’s approach to leveraging parks to capture, store, and filter stormwater to prevent flooding.

Visit Boston.gov/parks to learn more.

PLANNING

To help achieve the mission of a more resilient city, a Coastal Resilience Delivery team was created in coordination with the Planning Department's Real Estate Division. Building off of Climate Ready Boston planning, this team will act immediately to protect Boston's coastline and residents from climate change. It will prioritize projects, secure rights-of-way, seek out funding through grants or creative financing mechanisms while working with the City's Chief Financial Officer, identify and design solutions to implement resilience plans and lead public-private partnerships in cooperation with landowners and other parties. The Coastal Resilience Delivery team will work with the Office of Climate Resilience within the Environment, Energy and Open Space (EEOS) Cabinet, the Environment Department, and other city, state, and federal agencies to align efforts on protecting Boston from coastal flooding and sea level rise. In addition, as this team grows and establishes strength in addressing coastal resilience, it should use its tools and expertise to also advance real estate actions to address other resilience challenges, such as mitigating heat island effects or increasing equitable access to open space.

The Planning Department will continue to leverage the BPDA's portfolio of publicly-owned land and its expertise acquiring and redeveloping property to advance the new mission addressing Boston’s most critical challenges including climate resilience. To fulfill our objective of utilizing public land for public good, the Real Estate Division will continue to work closely with communities to ensure that developments on BPDA-owned land meet these challenges.

Additionally, staff will closely coordinate with other City offices, departments and agencies (e.g., Housing, Emergency Management, Equity and Inclusion, Human Services, Public Health, Streets, Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, and Arts and Culture, etc.) to create opportunities for these partners to advance their work.

To review projects that our team is working on with other departments, please visit the Coastal Resilience Project Tracker.

Learn more.