New Guide for Screening Brownfields Projects for Flood Vulnerability
1. Scope
This standard guide provides a set of options and technical guidance, for using publicly available geospatial data to screen brownfields sites for potential precipitation-driven, inland flooding. The guide does not address coastal flooding. Although parcel-level data are not available for most sites, Census block scale data layers can be overlaid to assess community flooding threats. This screening-level information is useful for risk management and planning. Screening can include data on: heavy precipitation, floodplains, low-lying areas (i.e., digital elevation), existing flood control infrastructure, land cover, soils, brownfields locations and site characteristics (e.g., contaminants present) and other relevant indicators from publicly available data sources (e.g., EPA Federal Registry Service (FRS)). Looking at different factors in conjunction with each other can allow for more effective prioritization of the areas that may be most impacted.
Keywords
Brownfields, flooding, vulnerbality
Rationale
More than 25 million people live within a half mile of one of the 450,000 brownfields sites in the United States. Brownfields sites are often located in urban areas, which can be vulnerable to flooding due to heavy precipitation, especially in low-lying areas. The resulting runoff and infiltration can then transport any contaminants present at brownfields sites to waterways and nearby communities and properties. The movement of water and contaminants can compromise site remediation strategies, endanger human health, and threaten sensitive ecological receptors.
