A $3.5 million grant from the United State’s Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide money to study the wetlands and culvert between Child Street and Franklin Street, an area particularly prone to flooding during storm events.

Warren received the money as part of a $420 million USDA program, which includes $33 million for eight projects within Rhode Island. The allocation to Warren will be utilized to “perform a preliminary feasibility report on the Palmer River Watershed in Warren, RI to address flooding concerns, improve water quality and wildlife habitat,” according to a USDA press release.

Town Planner Bob Rulli, who acquired the grant, said that the money enables the Town to leverage its efforts on wetlands restoration and storm mitigation elsewhere.

“The flooding issues in the area] is something that has been neglected for years, which is not a criticism, it’s just the reality. We haven’t had money to look at it,” he said. “I think it’s another example of us leveraging funding whenever and wherever we can to address these issues, and then we can leverage that kind of assistance and make people pay a lot more attention.”

There is no known timeline yet on when that federal study will commence, or how long it will take to complete.