2025 Award Winners

The Walnut Street Neighborhood Flood Mitigation Project strengthens climate resilience in a densely developed, flood-prone area of Framingham, Massachusetts, by restoring natural systems while improving community connectivity. Supported by Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Action Grants and FEMA funding, the project uses nature-based solutions to reduce flooding, enhance habitat, and support long-term watershed performance. Key improvements include restoring stream function in Sucker Brook and an unnamed tributary, removing historic fill to expand wetland storage, stabilizing streambanks, and introducing native vegetation to improve ecological conditions. An elevated, ADA-accessible boardwalk replaces a frequently flooded path, creating a reliable connection between neighborhoods, schools, and community spaces while maintaining natural hydrology. A new stormwater treatment system improves water quality, and interpretive signage and community programming build environmental awareness and stewardship. Together, these integrated strategies reduce flood risk, restore ecological integrity, and deliver a more resilient, connected community.

The University of Rhode Island’s Stormwater Living Lab brings together students, faculty, and campus operations to transform everyday infrastructure into an interactive learning environment that connects people to the role of stormwater management. Led by the Office of Sustainability and supported by utilities and academic partners, the initiative integrates real-world challenges into interdisciplinary coursework, inviting students in communications, business, and landscape architecture to develop creative, practical ways to make stormwater systems more visible, meaningful, and engaging. Through site analysis, design development, and stakeholder review, students worked collaboratively to produce concepts ranging from public-facing installations to digital tools that highlight the ecological value of campus systems. The result is an evolving set of student-driven prototypes that demonstrate how collaboration, innovation, and hands-on learning can strengthen community awareness and stewardship while advancing more resilient, sustainable campus environments.

The Merrimack River Revive (MRR) brings 13 Lower Merrimack communities together to manage stormwater at the watershed scale, aligning infrastructure planning with how water moves across municipal boundaries. The initiative established a shared technical foundation through consistent system mapping and catchment delineation, giving all participants access to reliable, unified data to support MS4 compliance, capital planning, and funding pursuits. Building on this, regional hydrologic and hydraulic modeling and culvert evaluations help communities understand upstream and downstream impacts, identify priority infrastructure, and move from reactive fixes toward risk-informed investment decisions. By convening municipalities, regional partners, nonprofits, and engineers around a common framework, MRR is strengthening collaboration, improving transparency, and advancing coordinated solutions. The effort is also expanding community engagement, including outreach in Lowell to connect residents with the infrastructure shaping local flood risk. Together, these outcomes position MRR as a practical, replicable model for improving resilience, advancing equity, and delivering smarter stormwater solutions across New England.