&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Improving Community  Resiliency with Green  Infrastructure
What is green infrastructure?
Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments. The scale of
green infrastructure ranges from urban installations such as rain gardens and green roofs up to large tracts of undeveloped natural lands.
The interconnected network of green infrastructure can enhance the resiliency of infrastructure and communities by increasing water
supplies, reducing flooding, providing climate adaptability, and improving water quality. Approximately one-third of the estimated growth
in the 100-year floodplain over the coming decades is attributed to stormwater impacts of upstream development.
Milwaukee, Wl uses green infrastructure to improve
water quality and enhance flood control

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's (MMSD) green
infrastructure program combines site scale practices and large scale
open spaces. The Greenseams program permanently protects
undeveloped properties within upstream watersheds to manage
stormwater at its source, keeping water out of the combined sewer
and mitigating downstream flooding by infiltrating it on site.

The Menomonee River Industrial Park contains the largest green
infrastructure project in the Milwaukee area. Once a contaminated
industrial site, this 70-acre stormwater park now manages runoff from
adjacent development up to the 100-year storm event, as well as
providing a high-value recreational asset.
                                                              Menomonee River Green Infrastructure Project manages runoff on a
                                                             former brownfield site. Photo credit: Milwaukee Metropolitan
                                                              Sewerage District
                                                             Marsh restoration efforts restore shoreline in New Jersey. Photo
                                                             credit: Delaware Living Shoreline Initiative
 Living Shoreline Initiative uses natural processes to protect New Jersey coastline

 A joint effort between the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and Rutgers University seeks to stabilize New Jersey's eroding
 shorelines and tidal estuaries by restoring marshland vegetation.

 Several pilot projects along the Maurice River use natural processes to slow down sediment and encourage vegetative growth.
 Increased vegetation along coastal waterways will protect eroding marsh edges and mitigate sea level rise. In contrast to hard
 and aquatic habitat.

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                                                       Green infrastructure to reduce flood risk in Nashville, TN

                                                       Nashville is pursuing green infrastructure to reduce flood risk and
                                                       CSOs, while restoring impaired streams and the endangered Nashville
                                                       crayfish population.

                                                       To reduce flood risk, the "Nashville Naturally" open space plan calls for
                                                       the protection of 22,000 acres over the next 25 years, including large-
                                                       scale preserves in each bend of the Cumberland River. The network of
                                                       open spaces will not only provide a buffer against floodwaters, but
                                                       also improve water quality, protect agricultural soils, and offer
                                                       recreational opportunities.

                                                       To address flooding and CSOs in the city center, Nashville has
                                                       identified 50 potential site scale green infrastructure projects that can
                                                       help reduce sewer overflows.
  Parking lot designed to infiltrate runoff in Tuscan, AZ
  Photo credit: Watershed Management Group
 Green infrastructure opportunities in downtown Nashville
 Photo credit: Nashville Green Infrastructure Master Plan

 Enhancing resiliency to flooding and drought in
 Pima  County, AZ

 Pima County, home to Tucson, is encouraging the use of
 green infrastructure to mitigate flooding, improve water
 quality, and augment the supply of available water.

 The City of Tucson has partnered with NGOs to install
 green infrastructure on residential collector streets, and
 has adopted an internal policy requiring all public streets
 to integrate green street concepts into the initial designs.

 The green streets infiltrate rainwater to augment local
 water supplies while simultaneously reducing water
 pollution. They also help achieve Tucson's water
 conservation goals, which require rainwater to be used to help
 reduce potable water demand.
For more info see EPA's Green Infrastructure website: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/
Publication #830F14001

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