Natural Resources
Green Infrastructure is the interconnected network of open spaces and natural areas that naturally recharges aquifers, improves water quality and quantity, and provides recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat. Green infrastructure manages stormwater by capturing raindrops where they fall. CNT encourages reuse of natural moisture by using rain gardens, swales, green roofs, tree planting, permeable pavement and other low impact approaches to restore natural drainage functions and recycle stormwater in urban environments.
CNT’s Natural Resources work is rooted in the belief that if we change land use and investment patterns—capture water where it falls instead of building expensive treatment facilities—we can save money, have more reliable systems and create more benefits for people and places. Areas of focus include developing tools to map and analyze the values of green infrastructure, researching and demonstrating stormwater best management practices (BMPs), and promoting changes in local, regional and national policy.
Why is this important?
- Green Infrastructure approaches help save money, support urban sustainability, and use limited financial resources more efficiently by harnessing the natural filtering abilities of plants, trees and soil to protect water quality, reduce runoff volumes, and recharge groundwater supplies.
- Regionally, this means that water management helps open spaces and natural areas and improves water quality, provides recreational opportunities and enhances wildlife habitats for all to enjoy.
- Flash flooding can devastate homes and neighborhoods, but with judicious use of green areas, rain gardens, permeable pavements, and other green infrastructure strategies this threat can be avoided or reduced.
Learn more about our green infrastructure strategies by reviewing our projects, tools and publications through the links on this page.
Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
On May 27, the Illinois Legislature took a significant step toward statewide sustainable water policy by passing the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act, SB 1489. The bill sets the state on a path toward more effective and sustainable urban stormwater management by directing the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to consider standards that prioritize natural drainage approaches known as green infrastructure.
As the storm Chicago experienced in September 2008 demonstrated, conventional “hardscape” approaches to stormwater management are not only expensive for taxpayers, they cannot solve all our stormwater problems by themselves. During that storm, over 11 billion gallons of stormwater combined with raw—untreated—domestic sewage water were released into Lake Michigan, and an additional 50 billion gallons above typical flow overflowed out the Chicago River into the Des Plaines and ultimately the Mississippi basin.
The Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act requires the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to report to the Legislature and Governor’s Office on stormwater management techniques that capture raindrops where they fall. Green infrastructure preserves and enhances natural drainage systems which reduce the amount of stormwater that must be collected in pipes and treated or discharged to our surface waters. These sustainable stormwater practices increase infiltration of rain water into the ground, reducing pollution and sewer overflows, and helping recharge declining groundwater aquifers. Several states and major cities around the country have taken the lead in supplementing their conventional stormwater systems with green infrastructure best management practices, recognizing that green infrastructure can save money and enhance community health and vitality.
CNT identified the problem and proposed solutions to members of the General Assembly. The Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act was the result. The lead sponsors were Senator Iris Martinez and Representative Elaine Nekritz. Co-sponsors included Senators Susan Garrett, Jacqueline Collins, Ira Silverstein, Pamela Althoff, and Martin Sandoval and Representatives Jehan Gordon, Deborah Mell, Sara Feigenholtz, Elizabeth Coulson, Sandra Pihos, Rosemary Mulligan, Naomi Jakobsson, and Mike Fortner. The IEPA also supported the action and has begun to plan its study, even before the bill reaches the Governor’s desk for his anticipated signature. CNT will be working with the State, municipalities, regional agencies, and the research community on this effort to bring the benefits of green infrastructure to all urban and urbanizing areas in Illinois. Interested parties can help by providing information to the Agency on the benefits and costs involved in using green infrastructure practices.
For information on how to become involved in this effort, please contact Hal Sprague, CNT Senior Policy Associate, at 773-269-4046, or hal at cnt.org.
On June 30, 2009, Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill into law, as Public Act 96-0026.
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Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
CNT’s Natural Resources program launched the “Super Barrel” movement (part of our Green Affordable Housing project, funded by the Home Depot Foundation) last weekend at Oak Park’s “What’s Blooming on Harrison” event. Attendees were drawn to the area behind the multi-family housing unit at 301 Harrison, to see the debut of what CNT’s Natural Resources Director Steve Wise calls “cubist water harvesting”.
The so-called “Super Barrel” refers to a 330-gallon bulk liquid container cube - much larger than the typical rain barrel. Where a 50-gallon rain barrel can only capture about a one-tenth of the rainwater running off a 1500 square foot roof, the Super Barrel captures approximately one third of the water. The collection of storm water takes pressure off of the sewers and stores the water for later use in gardening (or in the future, even toilet-flushing).
The Green Affordable Housing project is piloting the use of green infrastructure for stormwater management in multi-family housing units throughout Cook County. And green infrastructure does not just mean Super Barrels; in Oak Park, CNT is collaborating with the Oak Park Residence Corporation to install Super Barrels, create bioswales in multi-unit housing parking lots, and establish rain gardens at a number of different sites. And in the Chicago neighborhood of Austin on the west side, CNT is working to create a rain garden or use Super Barrels at one of the community gardens.
(Rollover the picture to see the Super Barrel with and without its covering)
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Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
April showers may be bringing more than May flowers for sustainable water policy in Illinois, as the legislature is considering adoption of several bills that will expand opportunities for green infrastructure statewide. Passage of these bills would be the beginning of a new season for green practices to capture the extraordinary value of clean water in our state.
The Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act (SB 1489), CNT’s effort to bring the benefits of natural systems for sustainable stormwater management into state plans, is headed for its first hearing in the Illinois House on Wednesday, April 29, having passed the Senate in March. That bill would instruct Illinois EPA to lead a study to establish state standards and goals for expanded, effective use of green infrastructure in urban areas statewide.
Senate Bill 32, also having passed the Senate, looks at opening another largely untapped opportunity for Illinois – the use of harvested rainwater from rain barrels and cisterns. Current state rules largely prohibit the use of captured rainwater, or greywater from sinks and showers, for non-potable uses like toilet flushing, even though research nationally shows little health threat from such use. Expanding grey or reclaimed water use can offset filtered potable tap water for toilets, laundry, and irrigation, reducing withdrawals from lakes, rivers, and acquifers, leaving more water in its natural state while reducing energy required to clean, pump, and treat potable water. This bill would instruct the state Department of Health to write regulations for rain water harvesting, with the potential to clear away barriers to effective conversion of roof runoff from a waste to a resource.
CNT is working to encourage these and other policies to expand use of green infrastructure and related water conservation practices. The second half of the legislature will tell how far Illinois can shift state priorities toward water sustainability in coming months.
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