Section 6 Green Infrastructure Planning for Stormwater Management

The term Green Infrastructure has been used and defined in many different ways in the field of land use and environmental planning. There are two (2) main uses of the term Green Infrastructure, one referring to conservation planning and the other to stormwater management.

Green infrastructure for conservation planning

The first term refers to conservation planning. The approach is to protect aquatic resources and assets through policies, codes, ordinances, and projects that maintain and restore riparian buffers and connected habitat corridors and natural areas through conservation practices. This approach was developed over the last 15 years. The foundation of this approach can be found in pioneering efforts by Ian McHarg, Randall Arendt, Ed McMahon, and others that focused on protecting and preserving environmental assets. Planning strategies, such as Wedges and Corridors adopted by Montgomery County, Maryland in the 1960’s is an example of the implementation of this concept.

Green infrastructure for stormwater management

In 2007, the EPA and a number of environmental organizations redefined the term Green Infrastructure as an approach to manage runoff from non-point sources and combined sewer overflows. This approach uses the natural capital, or assets, in a watershed in combination with man-made infrastructure to maintain or restore natural hydrologic functions in a watershed. Techniques such as, but not limited to, green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavers, and conservation design, are combined with stream restoration, stream buffer enhancement, and reforestation to achieve targeted watershed goals and objectives. Many of the techniques that are used in Green Infrastructure have multiple environmental, economic, and social benefits. This has allowed these techniques to be leveraged, funded, and supported under multiple regulatory and community development programs. The approach has also allowed communities to consider environmental assets in the context of services that provide benefits rather than as just the context of watershed functions.

In both cases above – conservation planning and stormwater management – green infrastructure is an approach to managing water that relies much more on non-structural solutions – ecosystem and landscape-based solutions – and much less on structural solutions – engineering. Green infrastructure is not a substitute or replacement for IBRM/IWRM. Rather, it is a new and innovative philosophy and tool that can be applied – through integrated river basin planning – across geographic and government levels, economic and development sectors, and phases of planning, development, and management. Green infrastructure thus represents a whole new direction Jintang County can take that will distinguish its water management from other counties and cities in China.

What are some good examples of green infrastructure planning at the regional or river basin scale in the US?

As shown in the case study in Appendix 3, communities such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have developed Green Infrastructure plans – at the regional or river basin scale – that demonstrate the Triple Bottom Line effectiveness of green infrastructure in two separate plans demonstrating the two meanings of Green Infrastructure outlined above:

Parks and Open Space Green Plan: http://www.philaplanning.org/plans/greenplan.pdf
Water Department’s Storm Water Green Plan: http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/documents_and_data/cso_long_term_control_planf

According to the Stormwater Green Plan, “Green stormwater infrastructure includes a range of soil-water-plant systems that intercept stormwater and releases it either into the ground (infiltration), the air (evapotranspiration) or back into the sewer system (filtration). Examples include bioretention planters in sidewalks and parking lots, green roofs, and roof leaders that run off into lawns and rain gardens. These vegetated features mimic the rain management capabilities of a forest or meadow. Other examples involve the restoration of physical habitats in stream channels, along stream corridors, and on riverfronts. These efforts can also be oriented to provide improved public access and amenities along streams.”

What are some good examples of green infrastructure planning at the local community or sub-basin watershed scale in the US?

Green infrastructure is being introduced at the local community or sub-basin watershed level in many places throughout the US. Boxes 3.4 and 3.5, respectively, provide examples of land and water management plans developed or in progress in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, and Hackettstown, New Jersey. These local plans are called for, incentivized, guided, or framed by the Chesapeake Bay and Highlands New Jersey basin management case studies presented in Appendixes 1 and 2, respectively.