Retrofitting a Backyard with Green Infrastructure

With the release of PlaNYC's "Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan 2008", green infrastructure to reduce stormwater runoff is gaining popularity in the city.  This is a pilot project representing one such green infrastructure installed on private property.

The District received funding from the State's Conservation Project Financial Assistance, (a grant program available only to Soil & Water Conservation Districts throughout New York State from the  Environmental Protection Fund) to install a stormwater Low Impact Development practice ("LID") as a retrofit on a private property. To implement the project, the District partnered with Landmark West! and eDesign Dynamics.

The goal of the project is to demonstrate a low-cost, low-maintenance LID design that has the potential to not only divert stormwater from the city's sewer system but improve air quality and create a small green space.

In choosing a site, we selected a concrete courtyard to show that there is a low-cost greening alternative to excavating existing concrete, making this a replicable model for other parts of the city.

New York City, within the five boroughs, has 53,991 acres of privately owned unbuilt space that could capture as much as 1.4 billion gallons of water per inch of runoff if converted into permeable surfaces.

For more information regarding this project, please contact us at info@nycswcd,net
 

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