The Environmental Protection Agency has teamed with the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Landscape Architects and a host of associations, federal agencies and environmental groups behind the Green Infrastructure Collaborative, advancing stormwater management, water conservation and pollution control measures.
The Collaborative will build capacity for green infrastructure implementation by providing a platform for national stakeholders to a) leverage joint efforts to promote the multiple community benefits of green infrastructure; b) build and share knowledge around emerging green infrastructure technologies and policy issues; and, c) facilitate shared inquiry into the best ways to encourage adoption of green infrastructure technologies at the local level. Among technologies the Collaborative will embrace are pervious concrete pavement and permeable concrete pavers, both recognized for their potential to filter runoff pollutants, improve water quality and curtail erosion.
Signatory organizations commit to using the Collaborative to advance the adoption of green infrastructure as a means of supporting water quality and community development goals. In addition to working cooperatively to advance green infrastructure, each of the charter organizations has additionally committed to undertake individual activities that support green infrastructure implementation.
In a Statement of Support listing Collaborative signatory groups and agencies, EPA notes: “The scale of green infrastructure ranges from urban installations to large tracts of undeveloped natural lands and includes rain gardens, green roofs, urban trees, permeable pavements, rainwater harvesting, wetlands, protected riparian areas, and forests. Interconnected networks of green infrastructure allow rainwater to be absorbed and cleansed by soil and vegetation; to flow back into groundwater or surface water resources; or, to be harvested and used as a water resource.
“Significant advancements in green infrastructure have occurred in recent years. Communities across the country have greatly expanded the use of green infrastructure practices, most notably to address combined sewer overflows, reduce stormwater pollution in municipal separate storm sewer systems, and prevent localized flooding. Green infrastructure continues to emerge as an approach to complement and enhance gray infrastructure and provide multi-benefit solutions that create resilient and sustainable communities.”
Along with ASCE and ASLA, Green Infrastructure Collaborative participants range from major federal Departments—Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Housing & Urban Development, Interior and Transportation—to activists such as the Environmental Defense Fund and National Resources Defense Council.