Smart, Green, & Clean: Green Infrastructure & Water Conservation in Your Community

Local municipalities can lead by example and take critical steps to use less water.

• Permeable surfaces for parking lots are critical to minimize runoff and regenerate ground water supplies.
• Urban Forestry and other natural vegetation act as a buffer between cement and asphalt. It prevents large amounts of water from entering storm drains or entering local rivers.
• Rain gardens and rooftop gardens can be incorporated into standard design practices for all municipal buildings. Parks, Town Halls, Community Colleges, and Libraries can be used as examples of how to minimize runoff and recharge ground water supplies.
• Vegetated Swales act to slow the movement of water and improves the rate at which ground water supplies are recharged. Swales can be built as a buffer from parking lots and other impervious surfaces, on hills to slow down fast moving water, or near water bodies.
• Green roofs capture stormwater and help mitigate the “heat island effect” which is common in urban areas that have more paved areas than green space and contributes to higher temperatures than surrounding greener areas.
  

Updated by seckel 3/25/10