Flood Mitigation, Drainage Systems & Watershed Planning

Stormwater runoff is a valuable resource. Ideally, it recharges groundwater. But unmanaged, it can cause erosion, flooding, and pollution.

Extreme weather events add pressure through sea level rise, stronger storms, and increased runoff. Every community faces different drivers and constraints, from topography to land use. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s where we come in, as your partner for tailored, resilient stormwater strategies that meet local needs, maintain compliance, and protect water quality for the long term.

Tailored Stormwater Solutions That Build Resilience

GFT’s integrated services protect water quality, reduce risk, and extend the life of your infrastructure.

Stormwater Pipelines and Pump Stations
Pipelines and pump stations are vital to modern flood resilience. Together, they safely convey, store, and discharge stormwater, protecting infrastructure, property, and water quality during intense rainfall. Our team delivers integrated solutions that combine robust design with advanced hydrologic and hydraulic modeling. We engineer for performance, longevity, and adaptability, allowing systems to operate reliably under stress. From trunk lines to high-capacity pump stations, we help communities reduce flood risk, optimize flow control, and build infrastructure that performs when it matters most.
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance is a critical driver for any stormwater and drainage program. It helps communities protect water quality in lakes, rivers, streams, and beyond. Without compliance, the risk of fines, consent orders, and enforcement actions grows. We help you understand and meet federal, state, and local requirements, including the Clean Water Act, Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4), Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL), and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Our resilient solutions align infrastructure with regulations, reducing risk. With GFT as your partner, you can focus on core priorities while we help you:
- Navigate the regulatory labyrinth.
- Stay compliant.
- Avoid costly sanctions and fines.
Resilient and Green Infrastructure
Recognized by Engineering News-Record as a top environmental design firm, we lead stormwater innovation across energy, water, waste, transportation, and aviation sectors. We move beyond gray infrastructure with green solutions that mimic natural stormwater management processes. Our low-impact development and best management practices aim to:
- Mitigate pollutants at the source.
- Promote groundwater recharge.
- Reduce combined sewer overflows.
- Strengthen community resilience.
From bioretention and reuse systems to step pools, swales, and filter strips, we deliver environmentally, socially, and economically responsible solutions tailored to your goals and to the future.

Watershed Planning
Whether your watershed is impaired, flood-prone, or already well-maintained, effective planning is essential to your community’s health. We help you understand and manage the interaction between environmental and built systems, supporting a high-quality watershed. Our framework helps you:
- Reduce flood risk.
- Restore impaired waterways.
- Protect watershed health.
We use natural processes to remove constrictions, reduce pollutants, and restore resilience. From visioning and goalsetting to funding and program implementation, our watershed planning services offer a flexible, forward-thinking foundation for your community’s evolving needs.
Asset Management
Aging stormwater infrastructure challenges communities across North America. With limited resources, many take a reactive approach. We help shift to proactive, long-term asset management. It starts with inventory — using drones and geographic information systems (GIS) to:
- Map assets, replacing outdated records and improving accuracy.
- Eliminate paper maps.
- Improve efficiency and communication.
Custom mobile apps put data at your fingertips. We conduct condition assessments to evaluate performance, life span, risks, and costs. With this data, we build business cases and formal programs that support smarter investments and serve as the backbone of your stormwater capital plan.
Stormwater and Drainage Solutions
Our stormwater and drainage solutions include:
- Asset management.
- Best management practice retrofits.
- Combined sewer overflow control planning.
- Construction management.
- Conveyance design and analysis.
- Detention & retention facility design & analysis.
- Drone surveys.
- Flood mitigation solutions.
- Geographic information systems.
- Grant-writing & project funding strategies.
- Green infrastructure.
- Ground penetrating radar.
- Hydraulic and hydrologic modeling.
- Low-impact development planning.
- Master planning & watershed studies.
- NPDES and MS4 compliance & permitting.
- Neighborhood flooding.
- Stormwater pollution prevention planning.
- Stormwater utility development.
- TMDL analysis & compliance.
- Utility rate structure development.
- Water quality analysis & monitoring.

50+ Years of Experience

Our stormwater management experience offers innovative, balanced solutions that extend far beyond traditional gray infrastructure.

In-House Multidisciplinary Expertise

GFT’s stormwater work spans all critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, water, waste, transportation, and air.

Technical Excellence & Cutting-Edge Tools

Advanced GIS and integrated data management platforms enable spatially precise planning, seamless data integration, and informed decision-making.

Featured Projects

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Intersection with marked crosswalk, curb ramp, and traffic signals along a commercial roadway under gray skies.

Environmental Assessment and Detailed Design for Stevenson Road North Corridor

City of Oshawa and the Region of Durham, Ontario

Pump station assembly with vertical turbine pumps, valves, and piping installed on a concrete pad.

Valley Center North County Emergency Water Storage Project

Valley Center and Pauma Valley, CA

Pedestrian and bike trail passing beneath a modern bridge over a creek, with stone-lined embankments.

Thornwood Crossing Connector, Roundabout & Bridge Replacement

Newark, OH

Aerial view of Dunkirk Park tennis and pickleball courts with parking lot, restroom building, and surrounding wooded terrain.

Dunkirk Park Tennis Complex Design and Site Engineering

Dunkirk, Md.

Exterior of the Armstrong Tunnel with stone façade and twin arched entrances.

Armstrong Tunnel Rehabilitation

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Aerial view of a wooded hillside rising above riverfront highways and rail lines, with residential buildings along the ridge and fall foliage throughout the slope.

Mt. Washington Landslide Mitigation

Pittsburgh, Pa.

A culvert structure with water passing through, surrounded by green grass.

Rehabilitation of Six Thunder Bay Structural Culverts

Thunder Bay, Ontario

A red single-span pedestrian bridge is located beside a vehicular bridge, both traversing over a busy roadway underneath.

North Wilkesboro Speedway Pedestrian Bridge

North Wilkesboro, N.C.

A marsh landscape with tall cypress trees in standing water.

Orange County Coastal Storm Program Management

Orange, Texas

Interior view of a wastewater treatment facility featuring large open concrete tanks, metal railings, grated flooring, and an array of overhead pipes and conduits. The facility is well-lit with exposed concrete ceilings.

Forge River Watershed Sewer Project

Suffolk County, New York

Image of a highway with two lanes on each side and a swale in the middle.

Garden State Parkway Shoulder Widening Milepost 30-35

Egg Harbor Township and City of Somers Point, N.J.

Image of an entrance to an underground four-lane vehicle tunnel.

Henry E. Kinney Tunnel Rehabilitation and Pedestrian Plaza Project

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Featured Resources

Download our Water & Wastewater Treatment brochure to explore how our connected expertise and practical solutions can help you build a stronger, more sustainable water future.

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