Posted on Apr 15, 2022
Green infrastructure helps cities with climate change. So why isn't there more of it?
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https://www.npr.org/2022/04/15/ [login to see] /green-infrastructure-bill-spending-floods
Federal agencies are beginning to hand out billions of dollars in infrastructure spending, the largest investment ever made in the country's water system. Much of it will go to improving pipes, drains and stormwater systems. But some scientists and urban planners are pushing to fund projects that are better adapted to the changing climate.
Instead of just gray infrastructure, supporters say the answer is green.
Green infrastructure, whether it's large rain gardens or plants along a street median, has the same purpose as big storm sewers: to manage large amounts of water that can build up during heavy rains. Plants and soil absorb and slow runoff from rainstorms, while a stormwater drain captures water that runs down a street gutter and diverts it underground into pipes.
On a hotter planet, storms are getting more intense, and rainfall is often heavier. Flooding is on the rise in many cities. Stormwater systems are being increasingly overwhelmed by extreme rainfall. In the Northeast, the heaviest storms produce 55% more rain today compared to 1958. Last year, dozens of people drowned there when the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded basements, streets and cars.
Federal agencies are beginning to hand out billions of dollars in infrastructure spending, the largest investment ever made in the country's water system. Much of it will go to improving pipes, drains and stormwater systems. But some scientists and urban planners are pushing to fund projects that are better adapted to the changing climate.
Instead of just gray infrastructure, supporters say the answer is green.
Green infrastructure, whether it's large rain gardens or plants along a street median, has the same purpose as big storm sewers: to manage large amounts of water that can build up during heavy rains. Plants and soil absorb and slow runoff from rainstorms, while a stormwater drain captures water that runs down a street gutter and diverts it underground into pipes.
On a hotter planet, storms are getting more intense, and rainfall is often heavier. Flooding is on the rise in many cities. Stormwater systems are being increasingly overwhelmed by extreme rainfall. In the Northeast, the heaviest storms produce 55% more rain today compared to 1958. Last year, dozens of people drowned there when the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded basements, streets and cars.
Green infrastructure helps cities with climate change. So why isn't there more of it?
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: 
Climate Change
Climate Change
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 3
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I see this article as being promotional for the Climate Change Movement. The rain gardens and such that they show are just a fancy name for stormwater detention and require a lot of funding for long term maintenance; you can’t just plant these thing and leave. Typically, these gardens don’t take large frequency storms well and just flood. If done indiscriminately, they can alter the hydrostatic curve and actually make flooding worse. If I had a penny for every time I saw the Fish Commission put in rock deflectors and fish habitat in a river environment without actually designing it to ensure channel adequacy, I would be rich. Their idea is if it’s good for the fish it must be good for everyone. Not so! I am sorry to rant on for so long but you are posting about actions that are near and dear to my heart. There are too many quasi people out there working in areas they shouldn’t be.
I also take exception to their statement that storm frequencies are enlarging. Looking at the honest numbers over the years that’s just not the case. I could give you data, but many will just find something to pick on in it. If they look honestly, they will find what they look for. Oh heck, here is one on hurricanes. Even though they try to make the case for Global Warming here, the number of hurricanes isn’t changing, so they try to speak of something vaguer… like the rainfall intensity associated with the hurricanes that most non-professionals can’t understand, but it sounds really good.
The bottom line: To many non-professions trying to practice outside the disciplines they are qualified in and not enough enforcement. We don’t really have the rainfall data from hundreds of years ago to accurately compare the storms happening today. I can say that I believe the hydrostatic models and gages we use to predict rainfall and runoff today are accurate.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hurricanes-frequency-danger-climate-change-atlantic
I also take exception to their statement that storm frequencies are enlarging. Looking at the honest numbers over the years that’s just not the case. I could give you data, but many will just find something to pick on in it. If they look honestly, they will find what they look for. Oh heck, here is one on hurricanes. Even though they try to make the case for Global Warming here, the number of hurricanes isn’t changing, so they try to speak of something vaguer… like the rainfall intensity associated with the hurricanes that most non-professionals can’t understand, but it sounds really good.
The bottom line: To many non-professions trying to practice outside the disciplines they are qualified in and not enough enforcement. We don’t really have the rainfall data from hundreds of years ago to accurately compare the storms happening today. I can say that I believe the hydrostatic models and gages we use to predict rainfall and runoff today are accurate.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hurricanes-frequency-danger-climate-change-atlantic
Hurricanes may not be becoming more frequent, but they’re still more dangerous
A new study suggests that there aren’t more hurricanes now than there were roughly 150 years ago.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Green infrastructure, whether it's large rain gardens or plants along a street median, has the same purpose as big storm sewers: to manage large amounts of water that can build up during heavy rains. Plants and soil absorb and slow runoff from rainstorms, while a stormwater drain captures water that runs down a street gutter and diverts it underground into pipes.
On a hotter planet, storms are getting more intense, and rainfall is often heavier. Flooding is on the rise in many cities. Stormwater systems are being increasingly overwhelmed by extreme rainfall. In the Northeast, the heaviest storms produce 55% more rain today compared to 1958. Last year, dozens of people drowned there when the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded basements, streets and cars.
Still, most cities face major backlogs in maintaining the aging gray infrastructure they already have, amounting to billions of dollars nationwide. In the rush to secure federal funding to fill that void, some worry that green infrastructure will be left by the wayside."...
..."Green infrastructure, whether it's large rain gardens or plants along a street median, has the same purpose as big storm sewers: to manage large amounts of water that can build up during heavy rains. Plants and soil absorb and slow runoff from rainstorms, while a stormwater drain captures water that runs down a street gutter and diverts it underground into pipes.
On a hotter planet, storms are getting more intense, and rainfall is often heavier. Flooding is on the rise in many cities. Stormwater systems are being increasingly overwhelmed by extreme rainfall. In the Northeast, the heaviest storms produce 55% more rain today compared to 1958. Last year, dozens of people drowned there when the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded basements, streets and cars.
Still, most cities face major backlogs in maintaining the aging gray infrastructure they already have, amounting to billions of dollars nationwide. In the rush to secure federal funding to fill that void, some worry that green infrastructure will be left by the wayside."...
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