Stormwater Management Challenges in Rural Coastal Maine: Identifying Place-Based Solutions by Studying Current Practices

Abstract

In December 2023 and January of 2024, three historically severe storms resulted in catastrophic flooding, overwhelming culverts and stormwater infrastructure in Maine’s rural coastal communities. These storm events highlight the urgent need to accelerate climate resilience planning and investment. In many rural coastal communities, culvert conditions and frequent and powerful storms cause malfunctions and failures, often leading to flooded streets and disruptions throughout communities. Stormwater management (SWM) practices vary across communities, ranging from periodic inspections and cleaning to systematic data collection, and many rural communities struggle to maintain and upgrade their stormwater systems. To better understand current SWM and maintenance practices and challenges, we conducted semi-structured interviews with town officials of three rural Maine counties. Conversations with town officials revealed challenges such as delays in problem point identification due to lack of formal data collection, a dearth of mapping systems, and dependence on word-of-mouth knowledge. SWM is deprioritized due to budget constraints and the common practice of delegating multiple responsibilities to a single person. Therefore, reactive rather than proactive decision making is prevalent, increasing failure risk and cost and time for repairs. We found that stormwater system managers in Hancock and Waldo County placed stronger emphasis than their Washington County counterparts on collaborative efforts with neighboring towns and adaptive upgrades to address capacity limitations. Preliminary findings suggest voluntary education, collaboration among towns, culvert inventory, and stormwater system mapping could lead to community-engaged, prompt decision-making and sustainable SWM. Addressing the identified gaps strengthens communities against recurrent storms benefiting rural Maine and beyond.