&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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