United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Get Flood Insurance Discounts
with Low Impact Development,
Open Space Protection Plans,
and Stormwater Management
Regulations
EPA promotes the use of Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Infrastructure
(Gl) as a stormwater management approach that provides many community
benefits and that can supplement flood protection. LID/GI projects may allow a
community to claim points under the Community Rating System (CRS) developed
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA's NFIP Program Rewards Protection of Streams
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA, offers
insurance to homeowners, renters, and business owners in participating
communities that adopt ordinances compliant with federal requirements to reduce
flood risk.
The CRS is an incentive program to encourage floodplain management that
exceeds the minimum requirements. A point-based structure determines a
community's class rating, which results in a discount for policy holders. For every
500 points earned, owners of structures in the 100-year floodplain receive a
discount of 5%. Accrual of additional points can reduce rates up to 45%. Thus,
the CRS rewards communities that enhance their resilience to flooding. LID/GI
ultimately protect streams and floodplains and EPA encourages communities to
take advantage of the discounts available from FEMA for these types of projects.
CRS Encourages Natural Resource Protection
In the past, the main goal to manage stormwater was to drain it as quickly as
possible. With the advent of LID/GI, rainwater is treated as a resource and
not as a waste product. This approach reduces the impact of development on
receiving streams and on increasing flood risk. LID/GI uses natural features and
engineered controls to reduce runoff volume through infiltration, evapotranspiration,
or rainwater harvesting. Also, stream buffer plantings slow down and infiltrate
runoff, keeping streambanks stable. Healthy vegetation, groundwater recharge,
and wildlife habitat are side benefits that create more livable communities. In
addition to flood protection measures, the CRS also rewards the water quality and
stream protection benefits of LID/GI and other measures that protect floodplains,
streambanks, and natural areas that absorb runoff.
Watershed plans that integrate LID/GI approaches can help reduce flood risk
for community residents and for others downstream, and thereby may lower
insurance rates. Your local floodplain manager, stormwater program officer, or
elected community officials can start the process of requesting these insurance
premium discounts through participation in the CRS program. The following table
summarizes LID/GI-related activities that can earn these discounts.
Coordinator's
Manual
FU-JS/2013
Activities that earn
CRS credits
Communities that protect streams
should consider implementing these
creditable activities:
• Adopting erosion and sediment
control regulations for land
disturbed during development.
• Establishing a library of flood risk
data, which can contain LID and
green space information.
• Maintaining a flood protection
website that can include relevant
LID/GI information.
• Prohibiting fill in the 100-year
floodplain.
• Adopting a building code that
contains LID/GI requirements
and practices.
• Using dedicated funding for new or
retrofit LID/GI projects in a capital
improvement plan.
• Conducting outreach that may
include LID/GI and stream
protection information.
• Prohibiting dumping of yard waste
and trash in streams and enforcing
compliance.
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CRS activity
(Activity number)
Open space
preservation
(422 a, c, and e)
Description of some of the elements in the activity
This activity prevents flood damage by keeping floodprone areas undeveloped and by protecting
and enhancing natural functions of floodplains. A green infrastructure plan involving open space,
wetlands, floodplains, and woodlands can earn points. Additional credit is available for support of
natural floodplain functions within the open space; for example, natural flood control, water quality
protection, and habitat preservation. The area must remain as open space in perpetuity. Regulatory
instruments to preserve the land include conservation subdivision design, cluster development,
transfer of development rights, and planned unit development. The maximum credit is 1,450 points
for open space and 350 for protection of natural floodplain functions1.
Natural channel and
shoreline protection
(422 g)
Preservation or restoration of stream, riverine, and coastal shorelines to allow natural processes,
such as channel meandering and natural floodwater storage, earns up to 120 points. Leveed,
concrete-lined, and rip rap sections are not eligible, but programs restoring floodplains are credited.
The credit is based on the fraction of protected shoreline in the community1.
Stormwater
management
regulation
(452 a, d)
Credit is given to development regulations that, on an individual site basis, require the peak flows
and runoff volumes after development to be no greater than before development. This activity
earns a maximum of 380 points1. When the volume of all runoff is controlled, 50% extra credit can
be claimed. Up to 25 points can be obtained by adopting LID/GI for all development. In addition,
20 points can be earned for adopting stormwater management regulations that specify measures to
protect water quality.
Watershed
master plan
(452 b)
Up to 315 points1 can be earned if a community adopts a watershed master plan that regulates
development on the basis of the combined effects of existing and future development. The plan
must call for management of both future peak flow and volume so that they do not increase over
values for existing conditions. The plan and regulations must be re-evaluated every five years.
Full credit can be claimed if the plan identifies existing wetlands or other natural runoff attenuation
features, prohibits modification of natural channels, requires the use of soft techniques for channel
improvements rather than riprap or concrete, and if the community has a dedicated source of
funding to implement the recommendations in the plan.
Natural floodplain
functions plan
(512 c)
Adopting a plan that protects one or more natural functions within the community's floodplain can
earn up to 100 points1. Examples include habitat conservation plans that protect rare, threatened, or
endangered species; a "green infrastructure" plan of open-space corridors or connected wetlands,
woodlands, floodplains, and other areas that support native species and maintain ecological
processes; or a community plan that inventories ecological attributes of the watershed or floodplain
and recommends enforceable actions for protection. The plan must be updated every 10 years.
1 It is important to note that points for many activities are often reduced based on an impact adjustment reflecting the activity's influence on the community and watershed.
Factors may include the number of structures affected, geographic reach, construction limitations, the affected fraction of the floodplain, or other actions impacting the
extent of the activity.
Resources
• National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System: Coordinator's Manual, FIA15/2013
• CRS Resources: http://www.crsresources.org
• Low Impact Development: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/green/index.cfm
• Green Infrastructure: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/gi_what.cfm
Contact information:
Local governments participating in the NFIP would decide whether to also participate in the Community Rating
System program to obtain discounts for policy holders such as homeowners. Contact your local government officials.
United States Environmental Protection Agency • Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460
EPA 841-F-15-008 • September 2015
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