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stormwater management

How a rain garden cleans industrial pollution

January 25, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 206 views
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  (Note: Today’s post was conceived and largely authored by my friend and frequent collaborator, Lee Epstein.  Lee is an attorney, land use planner, and sustainability advocate working in the mid-Atlantic region.) As NRDC’s water program rightfully emphasizes, one of the most vexing conundrums in highly urban areas is how to... [read more]

Uptown Normal's blue-green roundabout

December 13, 2010 by Georgia Silvera Seamans
with 745 views
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The term "blue-green" is taken from the Blue-Green Building website maintained by Friends of Five Creeks in Berkeley, California.  We have used the term to describe a traffic circle in Uptown Normal, Illinois because the circle collects and filters stormwater (blue) and features a park and uses plants to filter runoff (green).... [read more]

Sustainable stormwater design in Pittsburgh

August 7, 2009 by Georgia Silvera Seamans
with 731 views
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POPCity's current issue reports that Nine Mile Run Watershed Association (NMRWA) has received a $50,000 Springboard grant that will fund, among other projects, the construction of the Regent Square Gateway. The Gateway project will demonstrate how innovative environmental infrastructure development can improve aquatic and riparian... [read more]

Green infrastructure in smart growth, beautifully illustrated

July 13, 2009 by Kaid Benfield
with 113 views
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My NRDC colleague Rachel Sohmer has produced a wonderful slide show illustrating how low-impact-development techniques for reducing stormwater runoff (sometimes called "green infrastructure") can successfully be integrated into the kinds of smart, urban environments that we need to revive cities and enable walkable, transit-oriented... [read more]

Stormwater Management should work with, not against, Smart Growth

July 7, 2009 by Daniel Nairn
with 604 views
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Raining downtown, and that's just fine. flickr:bobtravisVirginia is in the process of updating statewide Stormwater Regulations. A draft has been written, and it's open for public comment until August 21, 2009. Some people are concerned that the stricter caps on nutrient loads, as they are currently written, will promote low-density... [read more]

Unpaving Philadelphia

July 2, 2009 by The Dirt ASLA
with 238 views
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The Greenfield School in Philadelphia is re-doing a playground as part of a city water department pilot project to combat stormwater overflow, which overwhelms the city’s sewage system, and can lead to water, oils, and salts to be dumped in the Delaware River. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that in place of asphalt, the playground... [read more]

Busted! Bailin & Associates Fined for Clean Water Violations

June 8, 2009 by Adam Shake
with 146 views
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Bailin & Associates faces up to $157,000 in penalties of for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Bailin & Associates, Inc. of Worcester has been constructing a 79-acre residential subdivision of townhouses in Worcester, Mass. Because the company is disturbing more than one acre of land, they are required to... [read more]

Clean Water Services - Field Operations Center

May 23, 2009 by Jason King
with 314 views
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A recent trip out to a meeting at the Clean Water Services Field Operations Center yielded some interesting images of some of the innovative stormwater ideas that were implemented into this project, which opened in 2003. The design was completed by Pivot Architecture from Eugene, along with Murase Associates from Portland as landscape... [read more]

Green Buildings: One Bryant Park

May 14, 2009 by Tyler Caine
with 172 views
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Many people still seem to be interested in the new Bank of America Headquarters at One Bryant Park. Not surprising really—the greenest skyscraper in the world is something to marvel at. As a result, I decided to do a definitive case study on the building so more people could know exactly how green the skyscraper is. Having had the... [read more]

Federal stimulus threatened to overrun small town with sprawl

May 12, 2009 by Kaid Benfield
with 471 views
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Just last week, my NRDC colleague Nancy Stoner pointed out that the federal program that provides water infrastructure to local communities is essentially subsidizing sprawl.  This is because the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (an atrocious name if I've ever heard one) "continues to fund new sewage treatment plants and new sewage... [read more]

Design that’s Environmental

May 5, 2009 by Project for Public Spaces
with 102 views
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Stormwater management can no longer be looked at as simply a utility to manage environmental resources. It’s now also become an important tool in the placemaking process. For decades, localities have relied on stormwater infrastructure that was costly, utilitarian, and damaging for the natural environment. But recent innovations in the... [read more]