Stormwater management has become a critical issue in dense urban areas. In the Eastern USA, stormwater often flows into the same pipes as sewage. Where there is a large storm, the pipes cannot handle it and raw sewage backs up in streets and homes causing a health hazard.
In the drier Western USA, there is inadequate infrastructure to handle anything more than a 100 year event just because rain is not as frequent. So when huge storms DO hit (as they did this summer - twice), there is massive flooding and destruction of homes and businesses.
Green infrastructure (GI) has been touted as a way to mitigate both these issues. The EPA has
several reports on Urban Waters. One of them is "Stomrwater Management on Compacted, Contaminated Soils in Dense Urban Areas". This article talks about GI, as well as mitigating the effects of Brownfields on our stormwater and discusses some case studies.
Download the free pdf from the EPA: Stormwater Management on Compacted, Contaminated Soils in Dense Urban Areas.
1
