Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Designing for Hydrologic & Community Effectiveness

Key Questions

• What are current challenges the Chesapeake Bay stormwater community faces with respect to ensuring that green stormwater infrastructure is hydrologically effective and that benefits are distributed equitably?
• When communities say that they want more green infrastructure in their neighborhood, what do they hope it will do? To what extent do community preferences and hydrologic predictions align?

Key Findings

• Stormwater professionals in the Chesapeake Bay region agree that:

  1. Maintenance of GSI is a top concern
  2. Valuing the long-term costs and benefits of GSI remains challenging
  3. “Good” community engagement is key to success

Status

• Our initial discussions with stormwater professionals in the Chesapeake Bay are complete and summarized in our white paper (see below) and led directly to our project on Long-Term “Success” of Green Stormwater Infrastructure.
• We are in the data collection phase of our project in Wilmington, DE, which is funded by DE Sea Grant and began in Spring 2024.

Funding

• NSF Strenthening American Infrastructure Program. SAI-P: Optimizing Deployment of Green Stormwater Infrastructure for Maximum Benefit. Award number: 2228662. Lead PI: Voter.
• Delaware Sea Grant Institute. An Investigation of Green Infrastructure to Enhance Resilient Stormwater Management in the City of Wilmington. Project number: R/RCE-22. Lead PI: Rebecca Nixon. Voter role: co-PI.

Lab Contributors