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What is Green Infrastructure?

Runoff from stormwater continues to be a major cause of water pollution in urban areas. It carries trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and other pollutants through storm sewers into local waterways. Heavy rainstorms can cause flooding that damages property and infrastructure.

Historically, communities have used gray infrastructure—systems of gutters, pipes, and tunnels—to move stormwater away from where we live to treatment plants or straight to local water bodies.  The gray infrastructure in many areas is aging, and its existing capacity to manage large volumes of stormwater is decreasing in areas across the country. To meet this challenge, many communities are installing green infrastructure systems to bolster their capacity to manage stormwater. By doing so, communities are becoming more resilient and achieving environmental, social and economic benefits.

Basically, green infrastructure filters and absorbs stormwater where it falls. In 2019, Congress enacted the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, which defines green infrastructure as “the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters.”

Green infrastructure elements can be woven into a community at several scales. Examples at the urban scale could include a rain barrel up against a house, a row of trees along a major city street, or greening an alleyway. Neighborhood scale green infrastructure could include acres of open park space outside a city center, planting rain gardens or constructing a wetland near a residential housing complex. At the landscape or watershed scale, examples could include protecting large open natural spaces, riparian areas, wetlands or greening steep hillsides. When green infrastructure systems are installed throughout a community, city or across a regional watershed, they can provide cleaner air and water as well as significant value for the community with flood protection, diverse habitat, and beautiful green spaces.

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Downspout Disconnection

Water from the roof flows from this disconnected downspout into the ground through a filter of pebbles.

This simple practice reroutes rooftop drainage pipes from draining rainwater into the storm sewer to draining it into rain barrels, cisterns, or permeable areas. You can use it to store stormwater and/or allow stormwater to infiltrate into the soil. Downspout disconnection could be especially beneficial to cities with combined sewer systems.

Examples

Rainwater Harvesting

This rainwater harvesting system is adapted to the architecture of the building and its surroundings.

Rainwater harvesting systems reduce stormwater pollution by slowing runoff and collecting rainfall for later use.  The variety of systems range from the backyard rain barrel and the commercial building cistern to ground level pits, aquifers and even nets that capture dew and fog. These types of systems have been implemented world-wide.

Examples

Rain Gardens

A rain garden can be beautiful as well as functional. Rain gardens are small, shallow, sunken areas of plantings that collect stormwater runoff from roofs, streets, and sidewalks. Also known as bioretention cells, they are designed to mimic the natural ways water flows over and absorbs into land to reduce stormwater pollution.

Examples

Planter Boxes

Planter boxes are an attractive tool for filtering stormwater as well as reducing the runoff that goes into a sewer system.Planter boxes are urban rain gardens with vertical walls and either open or closed bottoms. Usually found in downtown areas, they collect and absorb runoff from streets,  sidewalks, and parking lots. Ideal for areas with limited space, planter boxes can be a useful way to beautify city streets.

Examples

Bioswales

Bioswales are essentially rain gardens placed in long narrow spaces such as the space between the sidewalk and the curb. Bioswales, often found along curbs and in parking lots, use vegetation or mulch to slow and filter stormwater flows.

Examples

Permeable Pavements

Permeable pavement is a good example of a practice that catches water where it falls. Permeable pavements infiltrate, treat, and/or store rainwater where it falls. They can be made of pervious concrete, porous asphalt, or permeable interlocking pavers. This practice could be particularly cost effective where land values are high and flooding or icing is a problem.

Examples

Green Streets and Alleys

Green streets combine more than one feature to capture and treat stormwater. Green streets and alleys are created by integrating green infrastructure elements into their design to store and filter stormwater. Permeable pavement, bioswales, planter boxes, and trees are among the elements that can be woven into street or alley design.

Examples

Green Parking

Parking lots are a good place to install green infrastructure that can capture stormwater that would usually flow into the sewer system. Many green infrastructure elements can be seamlessly integrated into parking lot designs. Permeable pavements can be installed in sections of a lot and rain gardens and bioswales can be included in medians and along the parking lot perimeter. When built into a parking lot, these elements also reduce the heat island effect and improve walkability in the area.

Examples

Green Roofs

A green roof system atop a building helps manage stormwater and reduce energy costs for cooling. Green roofs are covered with growing media and vegetation that enable rainfall infiltration and evapotranspiration of stored water. They are particularly cost-effective in dense urban areas where land values are high and on large industrial or office buildings where stormwater management costs are likely to be high.

Examples

Urban Tree Canopy

City trees, or tree canopy, soak up stormwater, provide cooling shade and help to slow traffic. Trees absorb stormwater in their leaves and branches. Many cities have set tree canopy goals to restore the benefits of trees lost when the areas were developed. Homeowners, businesses, and community groups can participate in planting and maintaining trees throughout the urban environment.

Examples

Land Conservation

 

Land conservation is another good tool for communities to use for reducing the risks of stormwater runoff and sewer overflows. The water quality and flooding impacts of urban stormwater also can be addressed by protecting open spaces and sensitive natural areas within and adjacent to a city while providing recreational opportunities for city residents. Natural areas that should be a focus of this effort include riparian areas, wetlands, and steep hillsides.

Examples