Rainwater Management in Seattle: Mayor’s Executive Order Sets a New Goal for Green Infrastructure
The Goal: Six-Fold Increase in Volume Managed by Natural Drainage Systems by 2025
In March, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced a new goal for managing Seattle’s stormwater runoff with natural drainage systems.
The Mayor’s executive order — among the first of its kind in the United States — directs City departments to develop a coordinated approach to significantly increase the use of natural drainage systems to slow and clean polluted waters by filtering the water through vegetation and soil, much like a forest ecosystem does.
“Whenever possible, we should be looking for ways to better manage our stormwater with natural processes and leveraging our drainage investments,” the Mayor said, announcing a new goal to manage 700 million US gallons of rainwater runoff annually with green infrastructure, by the year 2025. “Seattle residents and businesses care about the environment. And that’s why we are inviting the whole community to join us in this effort.”
“The green stormwater goal will be achieved through a combination of city-led projects on public land, code-triggered private sector investments, and voluntary actions on private property.” (‘Code-triggered’ refers to existing requirements.)
“Given current population growth projections for Seattle, the goal works out to approximately 1,000 ‘green gallons’ of green stormwater infrastructure-managed runoff per resident, per year, and represents about a six-fold increase over the amount of stormwater Seattle currently manages with green infrastructure.”
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To read the complete story, and access a video of the Mayor’s announcement, click on Rainwater Management in Seattle: Mayor’s Executive Order directs a coordinated approach to increased use of natural drainage systems