Green Stormwater Facilities Result in Improved Water Quality and a Decreased Carbon Footprint
Sourced from Kawartha Now
It’s not a secret that flooding is one of the greatest impacts that the Peterborough area feels from climate change. This is a result of the increased intensity of storms that are forecasted to occur as a result of increased moisture in the atmosphere.
When rainwater lands on a hard surface, such as a rooftop or asphalt, it will immediately run off into the closest stream or river. If too much water is allowed to enter a creek at the same time, it can overtop and cause flooding.
Recognizing this problem, when we build new buildings, subdivisions, or parking lots, we ask developers to make sure that they build in a way that will retain as much stormwater as close to where it lands as possible.
Worth considering is the impact that many stormwater management strategies have on our municipal carbon footprint and the surrounding environment.
In the past, the way that developers have accomplished their stormwater management requirements was to build a stormwater pond. You can see many of these ponds around the city — behind shopping malls, at the edge of subdivisions, or near parking lots.
These ponds are effective at controlling stormwater but require a great deal of concrete and gravel fill, and can even release methane gas from decomposing plant material in the pond. To build them and maintain them, they can release a great deal of carbon emissions.
Over the past decade, designers and regulators have started to embrace green stormwater facilities such as rain gardens, green roofs, or bioretention cells. These are smaller structures that can be spread more evenly throughout a development to capture water close to where it lands.
The change to “low-impact development” was prompted by the desire to decrease the negative impact of stormwater on water quality in lakes and rivers. A hidden benefit to these facilities can be the decreased carbon footprint as well.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
