How a stream restoration project in Indiana is helping to reduce flooding

When it rains, the Duck Creek Tributary in northwest Indiana often floods, filling nearby roads with water.

Schleizer: “When it floods, it gets real messy … so people were, you know, getting stuck and not being able to travel like they used to.”

Bill Schleizer is with the nonprofit Delta Institute.

He says during storms, pollution from farms, road salt, and sediment also wash into the creek. And as climate change brings more intense rain, the risk of flooding is growing.

So Schleizer’s group is working with local officials to restore the Duck Creek ecosystem.

They started with about 1,000 feet of stream last year – turning a straight channel into a meandering creek surrounded by plants and teeming with fish, birds, and insects.

By restoring the creek to a more natural state, this project has also helped the watershed absorb more rain.

Schleizer: “We have increased storage of storm water in just this small area by over 150,000 gallons annually. … So we’ve seen reductions in flooding downstream. The overland flow is now gone.”

The team plans to eventually restore a full half-mile of the Duck Creek Tributary – helping to prevent more flooding, even as the risk of powerful rainstorms grows.