“you think, how is that juxtaposition happening?” sridhar said. “there’s this flooding, and the city just keeps moving on, but you’re still asked within the household to manage your water — cause there’s going to be a drought later on. you never know when it’s going to stop.”

sridhar and the nature conservancy work to show people that water comes from far beyond the tap. they work with farmers to use nature to help manage, conserve, and produce clean water.

2. eliza swedenborg, research analyst for the water program at the world resources institute, learned about water conservation when she was a peace corps member in mali. swedenborg is part of the world resources institute’s aqueduct initiative, a resource that informs people of the supply and demand of water. the goal of the aqueduct initiative is to provide farmers, businesses, and students with data about water demand across the globe to mitigate risk.

3. walt and ellen moore own a dairy farm in chester county, pennsylvania, that has been in the family for 108 years. with 850 milking cows, walt moore says water is a daily concern, but is fortunate to average 40 inches of rainfall a year. moore partners with the stroud water research center to develop the most efficient water usage practices. upstream – small tributaries that flow into our cities; what practices nearby

“farmers are some of the oldest conservationists; we’ve had to adapt and learn,” moore said.

4. matt carstens of land o’lakes, inc., and head of their new sustain initiative, connects farmers with businesses to develop sustainable practices. carstens emphasized the importance of education and storytelling. land o’lakes provides tools for farmers to conserve water.

5. jason haber, gw alum and author of “the business of good,” says that the battle of this century will be about food and water. haber is a storyteller working to inform people about the global water crisis and more efficient and sustainable business practices.

“you can lead a horse to water, but they’re only going to drink if you tell a good story,” haber said.

as a student of suny esf, i had seen examples of green infrastructure around campus and became curious about its form and function. after doing a little research, i quickly realized that there was way more to the story of green infrastructure than what originally met my eye. this local success story seemed like an excellent way to communicate the need for green infrastructure and demonstrate its viability for future use. 

special thanks to save the rain and suny esf outreach for some of the great photographs and resources used in the making of this project.       

the watershed’s recovery in recent years is largely thanks to save the rain, a unique stormwater management program initiated in 2009 by onondaga county executive joanne “joanie” mahoney. by combining green solutions and community engagement with traditional water treatment methods, save the rain has put syracuse on the cutting edge of a growing movement of environmentally conscious water management across the nation.

the problem

during syracuse’s industrial-era development, onondaga lake was hit with a double blow, becoming a dumping ground for industrial chemical waste as well as sewage from the city. this traditional sacred site for the onondaga nation and 19th century tourist attraction was declared unfit for swimming by 1940, and fishing was banned in 1972. even after industrial dumping was halted, the problem of sewage remained; it was built into the city itself.

syracuse is one of about 770 cities in the united states with a combined sewer system (css), project coordinator madison quinn told planet forward. this means that the storm sewer and sanitary sewer systems combine underground. wastewater from homes and businesses mixes with rainwater, and it’s all treated together. this design, now outdated, was typical of the time when syracuse’s infrastructure was installed, and its inherent drawbacks plague many cities today.

“on a dry day, we have more than enough capacity to carry everything in the sewer, but when you have a sudden inflow of storm water, you really can overwhelm the system,” quinn said.

during this sort of event, called a combined sewer overflow (cso), the css is designed to spill the excess untreated water into local waterways that lead to the lake. the continual pollution from this type of overflow led to a 1989 federal consent judgment mandating that onondaga county upgrade its water treatment plant and prevent csos from occurring.

a novel approach

mahoney entered office in 2008 on the platform that there was a better way to solve the cso problem than the one that had been proposed. she halted construction of three water treatment plants and took the case back to court. the result was an amended consent judgment, and, in 2009, the official birth of save the rain.

traditional methods for water treatment typically consist solely of “gray” infrastructure: treatment plants, pipes, pumps, and the like. save the rain takes a different approach, combining smaller improvements on gray infrastructure with a variety of “green” infrastructure projects, such as rain gardens and green roofs, which capture rainfall during storms and prevent it from going into the sewers to begin with.

“it’s really about holding the water during the storm, and not releasing it into the sewer during that heavy flow period,” quinn said.

this is the key to preventing overflow events.

the 189 green infrastructure projects save the rain has completed to date capture 96.2% of cso volume — far ahead of its mandated goal of 95% capture by 2018 — and reduce total runoff by 123 million gallons every year.

saving money the green way

save the rain isn’t just a new, greener strategy — it has proven cheaper and more practical to implement than alternative gray infrastructure.

in quinn’s words: “it’s a misconception when people say you can be either environmentally friendly or cost effective.”

halting the construction of the three proposed treatment plants and instead implementing numerous green infrastructure projects has saved the county an estimated $20 million in capital alone, she said.

not only that, green infrastructure takes significantly less money and energy to maintain than gray infrastructure. it relies much more heavily on passive, gravity-powered processes and less active pumping. according to a 2014 analysis by the county’s green program manager, save the rain saves the county $225,000 in maintenance costs each year, and 51,510 kwh of energy.

building community while saving the rain

unlike a water treatment plant, save the rain has a positive impact that is easy to see when walking the city streets. rain gardens replace vacant lots. a huge green roof tops the oncenter, a downtown convention center and entertainment complex. parks are getting new basketball courts with porous pavement that absorbs water while reducing noises. a variety of green installations allow the capture of nearly all the rain that falls on the local rosamond gifford zoo.

the community has taken note, and is getting involved and giving back. save the rain hosts tree-planting events and gives away rain barrels so citizens can collect rainfall to water their plants or wash their car. it also has a partnership with onondaga earth corps, a local organization dedicated to educating youth to foster the next generation of environmentalists. the collaboration between the two organizations has resulted in between 500 and 900 trees being planted annually by local youth, according to oec program coordinator adrienne canino. in the realm of urban forestry, which is one of oec’s areas of focus, this is no small feat. through projects such as these, both ends of the partnership enjoy the benefits of working together.

“it’s really exciting to have people engaged in this,” quinn says.

the community’s involvement in caring for their environment and water was one of the first goals set forth by mahoney and, quinn believes, is the key to the program’s success.

a model city

the status quo for stormwater and cso management has changed since 2009. according to quinn, more recent consent judgments in other cities require from the get-go the green infrastructure that mahoney had to revisit court for permission to use in syracuse.

the approach taken in syracuse, one of the first of its kind, worked. the city has transformed from an epicenter of pollution to an environmental pioneer. and people are taking notice.

in 2011, the epa named the city a green infrastructure partner community, holding it as an example of how to effectively implement green infrastructure, and onondaga county received the u.s. water prize in 2013.

all these successes don’t mean that save the rain is done, though. though the lake may never be the pristine body of water it once was, it has potential to recover further. for the sake of the watershed and the benefit of the city, save the rain is still churning out new projects.

said quinn: “we want to continue to improve water quality and there are still a lot of areas with a lot of impervious surface, a lot of paved areas, and we want to add more green space.”

1. hawaii green business program

the hawaii green business program recognizes businesses that are striving to implement sustainable practices. the program, a partnership between hawaii’s department of health; department of business, economic development, and tourism; and the chamber of commerce of hawaii, assists businesses in various areas including waste reduction, pollution prevention, and energy and water conservation.

2. hawai’i volcanoes national park’s rainwater conservation

this park has the state’s largest public rainwater catchment system, in operation since 1929, providing 5.5 million gallons of drinkable water per year for visitors and staff. the raw water is pumped through a treatment system, purified into drinking water by large sand filters, and then distributed to 56 facilities around the park.

3. electric vehicles

hawaii is right behind california, ranking second in the country in the number of electric vehicles registered per thousand people. the hawaii state energy office has created the mobile application “ev stations hawaii” to assist drivers in finding publicly available charging stations statewide. there are currently several green driver incentives offered by the state to encourage the use of electric vehicles.

4.  rooftop solar power

the hawaiian electric company, which is the electricity provider for 95% of hawaii’s population, has set a goal to triple the amount of distributed solar power by 2030. although the state is heavily dependent on oil for its electricity generation, use of renewable energy has been on the rise in all counties, and the state is a national leader in rooftop solar power usage.

5. smart power for schools program

the hawaiian electric company is also behind the smart power for schools program, an initiative to educate hawaiian youth about renewable energy technologies and sustainability. the program works in partnership with the state of hawaii department of education and community members to assist in smart grid technologies and energy management and efficiency strategies to reduce electricity use in hawaiian schools. it has been in place since july 2015 and succeeds the sun power for schools, which started back in 1996 to promote the knowledge of renewable energy in the state.

cities’ importance in a sustainability context cannot be overestimated. around the world, metropolitan areas are emerging and expanding extremely rapidly — every day, there are approximately 200,000 people worldwide relocating to cities. this continuous trend of urbanization, one that has been consistent since the 1950s, means an additional 2.5 billion people (more than a third of our current global population) will be living in cities by 2050. the graph below, drawn from the un world urbanization prospects 2014 revision, illustrates this global trend.

how can we build smart cities?

without the proper guidance, incentives or regulation, city planners and municipalities, along with the business communities within them, can get away with employing unsustainable and detrimental development principles into their urban design mechanisms. many cities have fallen victim to this. atlanta’s 2.5 million residents, for instance, span over 25 times as much land and emit more than 10 times the transportation-related carbon emissions per capita as barcelona, a city of 2.8 million. barcelona’s success can be attributed to its vast concentration of various residential and business opportunities as well as its strong public transportation infrastructure, which incentivizes development within close proximities to the center of the city and discourages personal vehicle ownership.

for cities to properly accommodate an increasingly urban global population in an efficient manner, city planners and policy makers also must take into account the impacts of a warming climate on urban life. while in the near future — the timeframe in which it is imperative that we act — we cannot dramatically consolidate huge cities like atlanta, it is both necessary and economically optimal to rethink and improve their current infrastructure to ensure cities are able to withstand the effects of climate change. in order to do so, we must understand that cities and their components are part of a greater dynamic earth system, one that has been disrupted after years of irresponsible resource use and management. in understanding this, it is essential to recognize the holistic implications of urban design and development, with an emphasis on preemptively integrating climate mitigation strategies into urban design.

proper water management is key element

one such improvement is to integrate highly efficient rainwater storage and drainage systems along roadways, pavements, and green spaces in cities. just this past week, severe flooding devastated the east coast, and the economic repercussions are expected to be in the billions. as the global climate continues to warm, evidence suggests that the frequency and severity of intense storms are going to increase substantially. this is especially relevant to cities, as roughly three quarters of them, including some of the largest megacities in the world, are located on or very near coasts, where the impacts of extreme weather events, not to mention rising sea levels, will be most costly.

some urban developers and municipalities have already begun incorporating dynamic rainwater storage systems into their planning process in order to mitigate the impending effects of climate change. copenhagen, as discussed in its climate adaptation plan, has implemented many sustainable urban drainage systems (suds), which will significantly reduce the impacts of the projected increase in abundance and intensity of cloudbursts within the city. these systems retain rainwater locally by utilizing subsurface and roadside infiltration beds, permeable paving surfaces, and green roofs and spaces in order to minimize stress on sewage systems and wastewater plants.

(photo by darby mcglone)

smart water management models found today

skt kjelds quarter, a “climate adapted” neighborhood within copenhagen shown above, features large excavated green areas that are used for rainwater storage and contain highly absorptive plants. grated channels and permeable sidewalks surround the green space, as well as large rainwater storage tanks that are separate from the sewage system. the ground outside the space is also angled such that all rainwater is directed towards one of these retention systems in order to reduce the impact of flooding.

potsdamer platz, an urban district within berlin, is also tackling the issue of rainwater management and storage. following the fall of the berlin wall, the local municipality recognized the opportunity to reduce the impact of flooding by forcing the rapid influx of investors to sustainably manage 99% of the rainwater ​that falls on their property. sustainable management meant completely disconnecting from the previous combined sewage system and creating a more efficient and ecologically friendly rainwater capture, storage, and drainage system.

buildings within potsdamer platz are now lined with green roofs that capture more than 70% of incoming rainwater, cool and better insulate the buildings themselves, and send rainwater down pipes to reservoirs that greatly enhance the area’s biodiversity. the water in the reservoirs is then used to flush toilets, irrigate nearby green areas, and in some cases to supply buildings’ hot water or solar thermal systems, all of which saves the district approximately 20 million liters of water each year. among other feats, buildings within potsdamer platz utilize efficient ventilation, facade and passive cooling systems that, compared to conventional systems, cut primary energy consumption by half. there is also talk of using the algae and biomass that accumulate in the reservoirs to create biofuels.

systems like these aren’t the end-all solution for an urban sustainability transition, but they are tackling some of the most pressing issues facing cities today while preserving a valuable resource that is often overlooked. 

(image at top: potsdamer platz in berlin. / mijozi/wikimedia commons)

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