Natural Resources News
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
CNT is making the case to national leaders for the public/private financing of green infrastructure retrofits.
Having established one of the largest multi-family residential energy retrofit programs in the nation, CNT is now piloting the nation’s first wet weather ‘Wetrofit™’ service. Funded, in part, by State Farm and the Surdna Foundation, Wetrofit is modeled on CNT’s experience in energy retrofit services. The unique approach, based on public/private partnerships, aims to deliver coordinated, tailor-made solutions to municipalities looking to retrofit neighborhoods and properties with green infrastructure. Read more »
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Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012
CNT Water Program Director, Harriet Festing, recently presented the new ‘Smart Water for Smart Region’ initiative to an audience of utilities managers and businesses at the American Water Works Association-Pennsylvania Section’s Great Lakes Summit. Her presentation, underpinned by fresh survey research carried out by CNT, indicated that water infrastructure problems across the Great Lakes states are widespread and a threat to cities. In the first surveys of their kind—one on urban flooding and one on water loss control—the research revealed the magnitude of the problems facing water industry professionals, and identified opportunities to work across the industry in the Great Lakes states to alleviate these significant problems.
Smart Water for Smart Regions was launched in Chicago on September 19th at an event hosted by State Farm to over 100 guests. The initiative offers a blueprint for the responsible utilization of water in the Great Lakes states. The goal is to help cities deliver water services to homes and businesses more efficiently, while protecting the region’s water resources. The initiative is being sponsored by State Farm, the Joyce Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation. Read more »
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Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
The City of Chicago has selected CNT to manage the Chicago Sustainable Backyards Program (SusBy) which encourages Chicagoans to create more environmentally-friendly landscapes in their yards, as well as in community and school gardens. The program promotes simple, low-cost measures that residents can use to enhance the environment and reduce neighborhood flooding. It offers Chicago residents educational information and rebates up to 50% back on their purchases of trees, native plants, compost bins and rain barrels. Funding for rebates currently comes from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Pollution Prevention Program and a USDA Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grant. Read more »
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Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
In a US EPA-funded project, CNT is using its highly acclaimed guide – The Value of Green Infrastructure: A Guide to Recognizing Its Economic, Environmental and Social Benefits to help showcase the added economic benefits of green infrastructure.
CNT released the guide in 2011 to provide municipalities with a methodology for assessing the financial, environmental and community benefits of select green infrastructure elements. By demonstrating that a comprehensive green infrastructure strategy can help reduce the economic burden of water management while improving a community’s quality of life, CNT has helped establish green infrastructure as part of a viable planning solution to stormwater management. The City of Lancaster, PA will be used as the basis of the upcoming case study. Lancaster developed its own Green Infrastructure Plan in 2010 to establish a more sustainable community and reduce the volume of stormwater runoff returned to local waterways. Read more »
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Wednesday, August 29th, 2012
CNT helped install this rain garden in the Chicago neighborhood of Albany Park, which is often subject to flooding, which will help soak up stormwater runoff from the adjacent alley.
Evan Crutcher gets to the point quickly. “Water comes in from the alley,” he said.
Crutcher’s home in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood backs up to an alley that in heavy rain can overflow into his back yard, a common problem throughout the city. The alley has a non-permeable surface, meaning the water cannot simply infiltrate the earth–it must go somewhere.
So Crutcher, with the help of CNT, decided to install a rain garden to transform this nuisance into an asset. Read more »
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Friday, August 3rd, 2012
The first step in implementing sustainable water management in a community is developing an integrated approach to understanding its relationship to water. To achieve a better perspective on this complex relationship and to provide a template for sustainable water management in communities throughout the region, CNT, in partnership with the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), conducted an integrated resource planning process for the Village of Lake Zurich, IL. Read more »
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Thursday, July 12th, 2012
The rain garden monitoring research conducted by CNT and Hey and Associates (Hey), published in the recent report, “Monitoring and Documenting the Performance of Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs),” was featured in the July/August edition of Stormwater (SW). The article, “Rain Garden Monitoring,” cites the originality of CNT and Hey’s research and emphasizes the impact it will have on the future construction of green infrastructure elements within urban areas. As the detailed summary in SW’s article suggests, rain gardens are easily implemented and will effectively infiltrate large volumes of stormwater. Municipalities, property owners, and stormwater managers can use the data and processes outlined in the report to inform future construction of urban rain gardens.
For more information, contact Ryan Wilson, Stormwater Program Manager.
Learn more about CNT’s stormwater program>>
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Monday, July 2nd, 2012
Bill Eyring's (second from right) retirement celebration brought in wonderful stories of his time spent greening the Chicago region and June 28 was officially named "Bill Eyring Day" in the City of Chicago.
In CNT’s 34 years, we have very few retirements, but on June 28th CNT celebrated Senior Engineer Bill Eyring’s 17 years with CNT.
Bill Eyring’s long and productive relationship with CNT actually began in 1980 when he still worked at a consulting firm with architect Jonathan Boyer. CNT President, Scott Bernstein, was collaborating with the firm on a project to collect and recycle biomass from Chicago’s west side. The project never materialized, but the meetings formed the foundation for a rewarding working relationship between Bill and CNT that has now spanned more than three decades. Read more »
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Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
In mid-May, CNT’s Ryan Wilson, Stormwater Program Manager, and Hal Sprague, Water Policy Manager, traveled to Toledo, OH and Detroit, MI, as part of the Livability Solutions coalition. The pair provided targeted technical assistance on the use of CNT’s Green Infrastructure planning tools—the Green Values Stormwater Toolbox, the Green Infrastructure Benefits Guide, and the Green Infrastructure Portfolio Standard.
CNT’s two community two partners—the Toledo-Lucas County Sustainability Commission (TLCSC) and Detroit’s Lower Eastside Action Plan (LEAP)—worked closely with the CNT Water team to impart an understanding of the unique regulatory and development challenges each city must overcome before implementing stormwater green infrastructure. The resultant workshops, tours, meetings and other interactions with local stakeholders laid the groundwork for a successful project partnership. The lessons learned in Toledo and Detroit will inform CNT’s recently launched “Smart Water for Smart Regions” initiative for the Great Lakes states. Read more »
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Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
CNT has launched a “Smart Water for Smart Regions” initiative to transform water service and infrastructure in the Great Lakes region. The initiative will help communities deliver water services to homes and businesses more efficiently, effectively, and transparently, while sustaining the region’s water resources.
Communities in the Great Lakes region, stretching from Minnesota to New York, are paying the price for deteriorating water infrastructure: unreliable service, rising water rates, and flooded neighborhoods. Our environment suffers as well, with increased pollution of rivers and lakes and severe physical damage to landscapes and habitat. CNT will work with communities large and small to find practical, innovative, cost-effective ways to address these widespread problems. Read more »
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