Texas flood planning gets a helpful new tool for working with nature

Texas flood planning gets a helpful new tool for working with nature Posted on September 16, 2026

Flood mitigation projects traditionally rely heavily on engineered infrastructure to reduce risk and impact of flooding. Nature-based solutions offer another set of tools-approaches that work with natural processes to address flood risk and, in some cases, water quality, groundwater recharge, habitat, and community goals.

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is highlighting those approaches and providing a roadmap to implement them with a statewide guidance manual, Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas. The project was developed to consolidate and expand upon existing research to provide Texas communities with focused guidance on these solutions and how they can perform across the state's varied geographic regions.

That geographic focus matters. A flood mitigation strategy that makes sense in coastal Texas may not translate directly to a community in the Panhandle or Central Texas. So, the manual examines the suitability and cost-effectiveness of different nature-based solutions across Texas regions and a range of flood magnitudes. It also considers broader social, ecological, and economic benefits that these projects can provide in addition to protecting against the loss of life and property.

The result is intended to be more than a catalog of green infrastructure. Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas is designed as a practical resource for communities considering how nature-based approaches can fit into flood mitigation efforts-either independently or alongside traditional infrastructure.

Building a statewide framework for Nature-Based Solutions

In 2019, the TWDB was tasked by the Texas Legislature to create a state flood plan, an effort that resulted in the 2024 State Flood Plan. In creating that inaugural plan, multiple flood planning regions communicated their interest in Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and asked the TWDB to provide more information on NBS projects. In response, the TWDB set about creating guidance for Texas communities that accounted for the state's different geographic regions and could help translate research into flood planning and projects.

Reem Zoun, TWDB Assistant Deputy Executive Administrator in the Office of Planning who oversees the Flood Planning Division, articulated the need for such guidance. "There was no centralized location that brings together what we know about NBS and helps communities identify which NBS are applicable to their communities. So, the idea for this Nature-Based Solutions guidance manual is to bring everything together in a single resource that is clear, easy to use, and applicable in various Texas communities."

To create the manual, the TWDB contracted with Freese and Nichols to examine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of different nature-based solutions across Texas. This research-which included reviewing more than 500 catalogued references, conducting a statewide survey, and interviewing stakeholders from all of Texas' natural regions-considered solutions for floods of varying magnitudes, along with the flood-mitigation benefits and additional social, ecological, and economic benefits they may provide.

The TWDB not only focused on whether NBS projects can reduce flooding but also how communities can describe and quantify the broader benefits associated with these approaches. The manual represents an effort to move NBS from a collection of individual practices and case studies toward a more tactical framework for evaluating where and how NBS can fit into Texas flood planning.

What qualifies as a Nature-Based Solution?

"Nature-Based Solutions" is a broad term for approaches that use natural features and processes to reduce flood risk. In Texas, that can include restored floodplains and wetlands, stream restoration, land conservation, stormwater practices, and coastal features designed to reduce the impacts of flooding.

NBS are not limited to projects that simply preserve existing natural landscapes. Some involve constructed or engineered features designed to replicate or strengthen natural processes. Others are nonstructural measures, such as conservation easements, development policies, or regulations that protect areas that naturally provide flood-mitigation functions.

TWDB guidance recognizes that these approaches can address different types of flood risk and operate at different scales. They may be implemented at the watershed, neighborhood, or coastal level. They can also be used independently or combined with traditional flood-mitigation infrastructure.

This makes NBS less about choosing between "green" and "gray" infrastructure and more about identifying where natural processes can contribute to flood mitigation. A community might use a restored floodplain to provide additional flood storage, for example, while incorporating traditional infrastructure elsewhere in the same system. The underlying principle is straightforward: use the flood-mitigation functions of natural systems where they can provide effective, practical, and resilient ways to reduce flood risk.

Nature-Based Solutions work at multiple scales

Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas considers NBS at the watershed, neighborhood, and coastal scales because flood mitigation opportunities can look very different depending on where water moves through a system.

At the watershed scale, approaches can include floodplain reconnection, stream restoration, land conservation, wetland restoration or creation, and channel stabilization. These projects work with larger landscape features and natural processes that influence how floodwaters are stored, conveyed, or slowed.

Neighborhood-scale projects operate closer to where rainfall becomes runoff. Bioretention areas, rain gardens, bioswales, vegetated filter strips, wet ponds, constructed wetlands, stormwater parks, and green streets can be incorporated into developed areas. Individually, these projects may address relatively small areas. Applied systematically across a drainage area, however, distributed practices can contribute to a larger flood-mitigation strategy.

Coastal Texas presents another set of opportunities. Beach and dune restoration, living shorelines, coastal habitat restoration, and natural breakwaters can be incorporated into strategies for reducing coastal flood risk.

Scale changes planning, and Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas is intended to help communities evaluate which approaches are appropriate for their particular location.

Why the manual matters for Texas flood planning

The full value of Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas is not realized simply through its inventory of nature-based flood-mitigation practices-it's by providing a framework for evaluating, planning, and advancing NBS projects. Kevin Wessels, TWDB Regional Flood Planning Manager, said "there's a growing awareness and interest in nature-based solutions and common misperceptions around them, so there was a desire for guidance and a common approach and language, which the manual provides."

Nature-based solutions in flood planning are particularly useful because they leverage existing or restored natural processes as part of a community's flood-mitigation strategy. Because these approaches can address different flood conditions and be applied at different geographic scales, the manual emphasizes the importance of site and watershed context in deciding where an NBS approach is appropriate.

This is particularly relevant in Texas, where flood conditions vary significantly from one region to another. Rather than identifying a single statewide solution, the manual examines which nature-based solutions are best suited to floods of varying magnitudes and to different regions of the state.

NBS generally does not stand apart from conventional flood infrastructure, rather it works with the gray infrastructure. Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas explicitly considers their use independently or in combination with traditional flood-mitigation infrastructure, allowing communities to consider how natural and engineered approaches might function together within a larger flood-mitigation system.

For flood planners and engineers, the question is not whether NBS are inherently preferable, but where they can provide a useful flood-mitigation function. The answer depends on the flood hazard, location, scale, and site characteristics. NBS can help communities preserve natural flood-storage capacity, manage runoff closer to its source, restore degraded systems, and complement conventional infrastructure.

Plus, NBS can provide benefits beyond flood mitigation, including water-quality improvements, habitat, recreation, groundwater recharge and broader community benefits.

The significance of Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas is not that it tells Texas communities to choose nature over concrete. It gives planners and engineers a framework for deciding where natural systems can perform infrastructure functions-and where they can work alongside engineered systems to protect the lives of Texans and their property across the state.

You can download the full Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Texas manual on the TWDB website and check out the NBS interactive dashboard to learn more.

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