Welcome to the Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange (“the Exchange”)
The Exchange, a project of the Global Philanthropy Partnership, seeks to activiate local governments and water agencies in the U.S. and Canada to implement green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) equitably.
WHY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS?
Local governments are legally required to manage stormwater so as to protect the quality of our drinking water and the health of rivers, streams, and other surface waters. Climate change is making that job more difficult, resulting in a need for solutions that can complement traditional stormwater management methods.
WHY GSI?
In its simplest form, GSI refers to the use of plants and soils to manage stormwater. But it can also include permeable pavement and other systems for filtering, capturing and storing stormwater. Best of all, GSI has other “co-benefits,” meaning it can also beautify neighborhoods, provide green play spaces, and create new jobs.
WHY EQUITY?
Owing to discriminatory policies like redlining, many urban neighborhoods suffer from a lack of infrastructure investments. As a result, they are often warmer, with fewer places for kids to play and greater exposure to flooding and other ills. Focused in such places, GSI holds promise for making these neighborhoods more liveable.
WHAT’S NEW
Welcoming the Members of RISC to the Exchange
At its September meeting, the Strategic Planning and Policy Committee (SPPC) approved a scope of work pursuant to which the Exchange would assume management of a Great Lakes-based project known as Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities (RISC). Today, I...
Learning Circle Learning – August 2023
Another month of learning circles has come and gone while the summer season is coming to a close across our network. Near the end of each month a posting will be shared that summarizes what the Learning Circles have been doing together. The upcoming months may change...
EPA’s OSG Program: A Good Way to Implement GSI Equitably
The word cloud above reflects the responses of 182 municipalities participating in an 8/30/2023 WaterNow webinar to the question, “What are the most significant challenges your agency faces regarding sewer overflows and stormwater management?” The results,...
Learning Circle Learning – July 2023
Near the end of each month a posting will be shared that summarizes what the Learning Circles have been doing together. This will include topics discussed, resources shared and what’s coming up in the next month. The upcoming months may change based on the co-chair...
Scaling GSI by Capitalizing Vegetation Establishment Costs
The results of our 2022 State of Public Sector GSI report were crystal clear about these two things: (1) At 10 percent, expenditures on GSI pale in comparison to other outlays to manage stormwater and; (2) most jurisdictions are challenged to fund GSI maintenance....
Performance-Based Plant Selection: Developing a Bioretention Plant Selection Tool
Performance-Based Plant Selection: Developing a Bioretention Plant Selection Tool For over 20 years, vegetated bioretention systems have been designed by stormwater professionals to solve complex stormwater and climate change related issues. For the government...
