From the American Society of Landscape Architecture…

ASLA Applauds Bill’s Sustainable Approach to Infrastructure Development.

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) announced a campaign to rally support for new Senate legislation designed to encourage green infrastructure - a novel, sustainable approach that uses natural systems of trees, plants and soils to manage rainwater instead of the overburdened and outdated infrastructure that currently exists in cities.

In most instances, rainwater picks up pollutants as it flows from driveways, parking lots, roofs and roadways before pouring untreated through the sewer system into the nearest watershed or drinking water supply. Introduced by U.S. Senator Tom Udall, the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (S.3561) offers grants and technical assistance for communities to use green roofs, rain gardens and other sustainable approaches that naturally capture and clean the rainwater - often preventing the water from ever entering the sewer system.

Green infrastructure techniques can save cities millions of dollars each year on water management and billions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades. In addition, these natural systems actually remove pollutants from the water while helping clean the air, reduce the urban heat-island effect and lower energy consumption. We applaud the leadership of Senator Udall for this legislation, and encourage swift action.

–Nancy Somerville, ASLA Executive Vice President and CEO

The legislation would create between three and five centers around the country to research best green infrastructure practices and provide technical assistance to communities. S.3561 also provides community grants to implement these practices and create a green infrastructure program within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Learn how to Get Involved in ASLA’s Campaign for Green Infrastructure>>

admin green infrastructure capture and reuse, green infrastructure, green roof, natural system, plants, rain gardens, rainwater, soil, stormwater best management practices, stormwater runoff, sustainable infrastructure, trees, US EPA, water management

Highlights of PennFuture’s 7^th Annual Watershed Workshop

With a clear focus on Philadelphia’s remarkable new stormwater management program, including its relatively new stormwater management regulations for new/redeveloped projects as well as the revolutionary new stormwater fee rate program, PennFuture hosted a large audience at the Quaker Friends Center on Saturday April 17.  The platinum LEED Friends Center is itself testament to “new wave” stormwater thinking, with its vegetated roof, rain gardens, and runoff cistern storage/toilet recycling of captured rainwater.

Speakers included an array of leaders from the Philadelphia Water Department, including Christine Marjoram who outlined the new stormwater regulatory program and Joanne Dahme who described the stormwater fee rate program.  Dahme also detailed Philadephia’s unique Green Cities, Clean Waters effort to achieve dramatic progress in combined sewer overflow pollution reduction through “green infrastructure,” rather than the conventional gray structural systems.  Senior Attorney Brian Glass chaired the event; Pennfuture’s Rachel Vassar closed the conference with a summary of Marcellus Shale issues and challenges.

StormwaterPA’s just-released video on Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters program is receiving accolades. It’ll be available soon on our Volume Two DVD (learn more about Volume One here if you haven’t seen it yet), but you can check it out here now:

Green City, Clean Waters from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo.

admin green infrastructure green infrastructure, green roof, LEED, rain gardens, rainwater collection, stormwater best management practices, stormwater legislation

From the American Society of Landscape Architects….

ASLA, American Rivers, the Natural Resource Defense Council, and other allied organizations have been working to raise awareness of the benefits in utilizing green infrastructure to help manage our nation’s water issues. Landmark legislation has been introduced in Congress that would provide assistance to communities that want to use landscape architecture techniques to help deal with their stormwater and other water quality issues.   To learn more about H.R. 4202 go to the ASLA’s issue brief web page.

admin National, green infrastructure green infrastructure, stormwater legislation, stormwater runoff, water quality, wet weather

The Temple-Villanova Sustainable Stormwater Initiative (T-VSSI) is excited to announce an informational workshop, “Financing Opportunities for Green Infrastructure”.  T-VSSI is a research initiative that includes Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities and Villanova University’s Urban Stormwater Partnership.  This program is made possible through funding from the William Penn Foundation under a new T-VSSI grant. The workshop seeks to provide municipal officials and others in Southeastern Pennsylvania and surrounding areas with detailed information about federal and state green infrastructure (broadly defined to include stormwater, alternative energy, green buildings, energy conservation, etc.) programs.

Financing Opportunities for Green Infrastructure
Monday, March 29 2010: 1-4 pm
Temple University Ambler Campus Learning Center Auditorium

Preliminary Agenda

Welcome/Introductions

• Jeffrey Featherstone, T-VSSI Co-Principal Investigator and Research Professor,  Department of Community and Regional  Planning, Temple University.

Overview of Financing Opportunities Available Through the Commonwealth

• Jim Creedon, Secretary Department of General Services and Chief Implementation Officer for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Green Infrastructure Financing Programs (speakers to be announced)

• PA Department of Environmental Protection: Upcoming Request for Proposals for ARRA funded energy opportunities in Green Building and Geothermal
• PA Department of Community and Economic Development:  Progress and status of the Weatherization Assistance Program, and an overview of the ARRA Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds and Recovery Zone Facility Bonds
• PA Department of General Services: Overview of the ESCO concept, its success in the Capitol complex and how local governments can use this concept

Success Stories (speakers to be announced)

PENNVest 2009 Stormwater project awards and early results

Who Should Attend?

County and municipal officials, planners, engineers and others engaged in funding, planning, designing and managing green infrastructure projects and programs.

Registration

Registration for this free workshop is required.  To register please send an e-mail with your name, title and name of organization to Judy Shatz at judy.shatz@temple.edu

Directions

Directions to the Ambler Campus and Ambler Learning Center (building 2 on the campus map) are available here.

admin Funding, green infrastructure ARRA, BMPs, green infrastructure, PA DEP, stormwater best management practices

As we noted in this post, Green Infrastructure is coming of age, and Philadelphia is at the forefront of utilizing innovative “greening” techniques. Be on the lookout for much more about these exciting efforts here on StormwaterPA in the coming months, including a series of videos that look at specific projects and sites.

In the meantime, amongst the useful articles in the January/February issue of Stormwater is one of special interest to us: “Philadelphia: Going Green to Manage Stormwater” (Margaret Buranen).  This is a nice acknowledgement of the Philadelphia Water Department’s nationally prominent green infrastructure program to better manage stormwater and the extremely serious combined sewer Overflow (CSO) problem.

Philadelphia’s changes in stormwater strategy began a major shift in 1999, when the City’s Water Department formed an Office of Watersheds to integrate sustainable wet weather solutions.

Dr. Christopher Crockett, PE, Director of Planning and Research at the Office of Watersheds:

In 2006, another major step forward occurred when we updated our stormwater regulations to require the management of the first inch of stormwater runoff for all directly connected impervious areas for any new or redevelopment with 15,000 square feet or greater of earth disturbance in the city.

The new regulations mean that “stormwater management” is part of the zoning and building permit process at the earliest stages.  Developers have many incentives to include LID and other green techniques to manage stormwater in order to meet those (2006) regulations.

Two years ago, the City Water Department proposed making a major change in the way billing was performed at the Water Department, essentially moving in the direction of a stormwater utility where stormwater billings for all non-individual residences would be based on impervious cover (80 percent weighting) and total lot size (20 percent weighting), rather than simply using water metering as in the past (notoriously inaccurate - large water users can generate relatively modest stormwater and large stormwater generators can use sometimes virtually no water!).  The new program has done much to encourage developers to incorporate partial and full green LID elements in new project designs.  Water Department success has been significantly reinforced with partnerships, such as with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Green.

In 2005, Philadelphia Green and the PWD started work on a project to address stormwater problems at seven Philadelphia schools.  At S. Weir Mitchell Elementary School, children created a raised bed vegetable garden in a paved parking lot, which will not only absorb stormwater, but also reduce the heat island effect.  Vegetation, infiltration trenches, bioswales,and a rain garden replaced some of the school’s 3-acre impervious site.

Another joint stormwater project, in South Philly, will include the city’s first sidewalk infiltration planters, on South 13^th Street.  Modeled after street planters used in Portland, OR, they are designed to reduce overflows that led to basement flooding, a persistent problem in the area.  These planters, which measure 30 feet long by 7 feet wide and are 4 feet deep, will be filled with native plants suggested by members of the PHS.

Ms. Buranen’s Stormwater article includes a wealth of information on Philadelphia projects, and we urge you to take a look!  This is definitely a Pennsylvania stormwater success story! You can find the complete article here.

admin green infrastructure BMPs, buffers, clean water, green infrastructure, hydrology, infiltration, LID, rain garden, rainwater collection, stormwater best management practices, water quality