Worried about flooding? Wetlands are part of nature’s solution.

According to the National Weather Service, “The most common cause of flooding is water due to rain and/or snowmelt that accumulates faster than soils can absorb it or rivers can carry it away.” And if you’ve ever had to deal with floodwaters in your basement, you know it can be frustrating and expensive.

The good news is that nature already gave us an important tool to mitigate the risk of flooding. Wetlands offer flood protection in our communities by absorbing large amounts of water that may fall during a storm before releasing it slowly into the environment. An acre of wetland one foot deep can hold approximately 330,000 gallons of water. This can reduce flood peaks and slow water flow. And according to a recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the just over 1 million acres of wetlands in Illinois provide $10.8 billion to $25.2 billion of estimated long-term flood mitigation value. 

But historically there were many more acres of wetlands across the Prairie State. Illinois only has approximately 10% of our historic wetlands left and many of those that remain are currently unprotected from destruction or degradation by development. Whether we’re talking about a flood event from a major storm or smaller floods that happen seasonally, sponge-like wetlands across Illinois’ landscape can help regulate water flow and mitigate flooding. We need to protect what wetlands we have left.