Stormwater Management

Chicago to Update Stormwater Plan
Chicago is one of 700 U.S. cities with combined sewer and stormwater systems that often lead to flooding during major rain events.

Study: Outdated Stormwater Infrastructure Exacerbates Flooding
Infrastructure built to mitigate flooding a century ago no longer serves current needs.

Opinion: Cities Need Green Infrastructure to Weather Future Storms
How ‘sponge cities’ can protect residents and conserve water.

Wisconsin to Invest Over $400M in Water Infrastructure
The state’s Clean Water Fund helps cities improve stormwater management, replace aging infrastructure, and upgrade wastewater treatment facilities.

Green Alleys: A New Paradigm for Stormwater Management
Rather than shuttling stormwater away from the city and into the ocean as quickly as possible, Los Angeles is now—slowly—moving toward a ‘city-as-sponge’ approach that would capture and reclaim more water to recharge crucial reservoirs.

How Green Schoolyards Benefit Kids, Cities, and the Climate
Transforming asphalt schoolyards into green spaces with porous surfaces can improve the well-being of students and neighbors and contribute to more effective stormwater management in urban areas.

New Green Development Rules Take Effect in Austin
The city updated its development code to include more robust protection for local wetlands and stricter sustainable stormwater infrastructure requirements.

Boston Unveils Green Infrastructure Plan
The city will start by redesigning curb extensions to incorporate elements that improve flood prevention and stormwater management.

Wastewater System Upgrade Plans Already Out of Date
Some Midwest cities' plans to upgrade decades-old sewer systems rely on outdated rainfall predictions as flood risks grow due to climate change and shifting weather patterns.

The Lesser-Known Programs in the Infrastructure Bill
While the focus has been on flashier components of the infrastructure bill, some smaller initiatives could have outsized impacts by shifting priorities and funding resilience efforts.

Major Redevelopment Planned for Gwinnett County, Georgia
City leaders in Norcross, Georgia approved a plan that would bring new housing, retail, and parks to a 'long-neglected' stretch of highway.

Federal Dollars Could Pave the Way for Greener, More Equitable Infrastructure
Houston's director of Transportation and Drainage Operations wants to see more sustainable development in the city that has historically depended on freeways as its critical infrastructure.

Permeable Pavements Required for Parking, Sidewalks in New Orleans
New Orleans is looking for new ways to mitigate the effects of stormwater that regularly floods the city.

New Orleans Convent to Become Large Urban Wetland
Hurricane Katrina damaged a Catholic convent in New Orleans. Then the nuns spearheaded a project to transform the land into a wetland area that will protect the city from flooding in the future.

Leaving Flood-Prone Area Free of Development Would Save Billions, Study Says
It makes more fiscal sense to buy flood-prone land and conserve it than to cover the costs of the damages to developments, according to researchers from the University of Bristol and other institutions.

Vancouver, Rain City
Vancouver has committed to green stormwater infrastructure by approving a Rain City Strategy that establishes an Integrated Stormwater Management Plan for each watershed in the city.

Los Angeles Wants its River Back From the Feds
Regional officials don't think the federal government is doing enough to warrant continued ownership of the Los Angeles River flood control channels that cut a 40-mile path through the city and county.

Wanted: A More Proactive Approach to Stormwater Investment
As hurricane seasons get more destructive, a less reactionary approach to stormwater infrastructure investment may be needed.

Pittsburgh Ties Stormwater Management to Transportation
Residents are weighing a much-needed flood-control system alongside a more controversial shuttle service.

Friday Funny: Adopt a Drain, Name a Drain
This is the first and only time you will be actively encouraged to get your mind into the gutter.
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