Kansas State University Hosts Webinar on Small Community Green Infrastructure Projects

On June 29th, the Kansas State University conducted a webinar entitled, “Green Infrastructure for Small, Rural Communities”, with funding support from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.  Two presenters shared the following green infrastructure projects in two small Midwest cities as examples for other small communities facing stormwater problems and needing to upgrade their infrastructure.

• Matt Durand, the Storm Water Manager for the City of Owatonna, Minnesota provided a presentation about the city’s storm water retention and filtration (green infrastructure) projects.  These projects were funded by a $415K Low-Impact Development grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Grant as well as city storm water utility fees to address flooding problems that caused storm sewers to overflow.  The funds paid for two porous pavement alleys, five rain gardens, and multiple infiltration basins/trenches.

• David Shelton, a Professor in Biological Systems Engineering and Extension Agricultural Engineer for the University of Nebraska also spoke during the webinar about the City of Wayne, Nebraska’s efforts to implement new green infrastructure approaches.  With support from the City’s Mayor, the City Council was able to adopt storm water ordinances for new development to build detention basins and bio-swales and avoid the need to upgrade its existing undersized city storm drains.  This saved a new developer and the city thousands of dollars for what it would have cost to run new storm drains and pipes.

To view the presentations, visit the web site at:  http://www.sbeap.org/workshops/viewworkshop/53.