Richard Boase (120p)
The catalyst for pending action is the current incremental impact of property redevelopment on stream health. Our watersheds have been experiencing death by a thousand cuts as the house footprint has grown larger and larger over the decades.
The plan reimagines the city as an oasis of rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, thousands of additional trees, and more. According to Howard Neukrug, the Philadelphia Water Department’s Director of the Office of Watersheds, “We are taking that (old, grey infrastructure) barrier down, and are stopping the water from ever hitting the system.”
“The addition of the Water Re-Use from Storage Module will increase the versatility of the Water Balance Model as a key tool in the City of Calgary’s toolbox of Low Impact Development strategies,” states Liliana Bozic. “Primary goals of the City’s Stormwater Strategy encompass developing cost-effective and sustainable rainwater/stormwater solutions that will work with our climate and soils. Rainwater harvesting is an area of interest that we have been working on for a number of years.”
“The cost of trying and failing may be high. But the cost of doing nothing is higher still. We have one chance to develop things right—to provide for safe and attractive neighborhoods, ecological balance, and clean water. If we mess it up, it will take decades and millions of dollars to fix it later,” writes Andy Reese.
Engineers and landscape architects are developing realistic strategies to manage rainwater runoff in a manner that improves water quality through treatment, infiltrates a portion of the runoff, and slows the flow to reduce storm surge.
Washington state will do more to prevent polluted rainwater and stormwater from running off state highways into rivers, lakes and Puget Sound, where it poses a serious threat to salmon and other aquatic life.
“The process of evolving current design practices for neighbourhoods, roadways, and the minor/major drainage system to manage the total volume – in addition to the peak rate of urban runoff – requires tools for planning and engineered site design. The WBM is one such tool that can help City land use, transportation, drainage and park planners to develop integrated urban design plans at the higher-level or watershed scale,” stated Lynden Hyurek.
“The Premier’s Awards are an annual opportunity to publicly recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of the men and women who have chosen public service as their career,” said Premier Campbell.
We already know the best, cheapest solutions for curbing rainwater/stormwater runoff. In this series, Sightline Daily editor Lisa Stiffler investigates the fixes for stormwater–and what they cost.
Local government action and support are resulting in a continuous increase of the number of LID projects which mimic natural rainwater processes such as infiltration.
