{"id":540,"date":"2021-02-23T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/2021\/02\/23\/climate-risks-and-opportunities-across-the-great-lakes-a-path-for-green-infrastructure\/"},"modified":"2024-11-16T14:04:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T19:04:49","slug":"climate-risks-and-opportunities-across-the-great-lakes-a-path-for-green-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/climate-risks-and-opportunities-across-the-great-lakes-a-path-for-green-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Risks and Opportunities Across the Great Lakes: A Path For Green Stormwater Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Sanjiv Sinha, Ph.D., PE<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

“Flooding in the Chicago area has been so bad in the past decade that only places ravaged by hurricanes sustain more damage<\/em>.”<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

So blared the headline from a May 2019 Chicago Tribune<\/em> post, just one example of headlines trumpeting the rampant flooding urban cities face across the Great Lakes Region. The combination of antiquated real estate development, loss of forest cover, outdated hydrologic conveyance systems, and increasingly extreme changes in hydrologic patterns in the region, have led to massive flooding issues and declining water quality in cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee, among others. A new approach is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Madison,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Green Streets\u2019 and other similar Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) practices are a logical answer. GSI relies upon a systemic framework of green spaces, parks, and pervious surfaces to filter stormwater runoff and increase water retention in soil and groundwater, rather than corralling and controlling water through a \u2018gray\u2019 system of gutters, sewers, and pipes. It has rapidly emerged as a critical, affordable, and effective component of resilient water infrastructure across the Great Lakes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A newly released report \u201cClimate Risks and Opportunities in the Great Lakes Region<\/em><\/a>,\u201d outlines a clear path forward for GSI. If framed well, GSI can cost less than conventional gray infrastructure, result in green jobs, and lead to improved real estate prices. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District\u2019s 2035 vision plan to build GSI is expected to yield cost savings of over $44 million, create 500 green jobs, and increase property values by $667 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report focuses on the importance of four drivers of community resiliency. They include the risk of flooding and other climate risks; workforce development opportunities such as the re-hiring of existing and skilled workers; gaps in health and wealth; and building funding and financing capacity to pay for these improvements and projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research focused on the eight-state, 653-county area that comprises the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes and integrated over 100,000 data points of 15 factors to create an innovative composite scoring system. This study evaluated items such as flood risk, impervious surfaces, vulnerability index, unemployment rates, skilled worker density, and financing capacity \u2013 into one overall score of resilience readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The report includes ranked data on all 653 counties in the Great Lakes states and concludes the leading urban candidates for critical green stormwater infrastructure investment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n