Green Solutions for the MWRD
CNT is collaborating with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) to identify best practices in stormwater management that are essential to meeting the public and agency’s goals for clean water, potable water, flood control and stream habitat preservation and enhancement. The District and the region now have an unprecedented opportunity to define the role MWRD can play in developing and implementing these practices under its new stormwater management authority for Cook County. As part of this effort, on May 31, 2007, CNT convened a panel of industry experts that are leading their cities and counties in innovative directions-towards the large-scale implementation of Green Infrastructure (GI). The speakers who presented at “Stormwater Solutions that Hold Water: Envisioning Green Best Practices in the MWRD” conference comprised public officials, non-profit advisors, and private consultants from Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Northwest Indiana, and Seattle.
The shift from treating water as a waste product toward managing water as an ecological asset requires a creative strategy to help lead the region’s growth efficiently and safely. The current regulatory schedule for implementing stormwater management, awareness of climate change as a possible limiter of the supply of available water, the crisis in state and local funding, along with the designation of the MWRD as Cook County’s stormwater management agency-all set the stage to design a dynamic and high-capacity program to meet the region’s changing needs. MWRD can adapt the lessons learned in other cities and regions, both on distant coasts and in our own backyard, about the effectiveness, required maintenance and enforcement, public outreach, and regional significance of Green Infrastructure best management practices. By broadly implementing Green Infrastructure in Cook County, MWRD can retain its position as an innovative national leader in municipal and regional water resource management.
Read the full conference report, complete with recommendations, here.
See the Powerpoints from the meeting here.
Read the bios of the participants here.
This initiative was funded by the Joyce Foundation.
