Pittsburgh's sewer system was built in the 1800s for a much smaller city, and it's notorious for overflowing. But there's a new way to capture stormwater, hidden beneath the green grass of two new parks.
Green infrastructure has other benefits besides treating stormwater, like improving air quality and increasing green space. But it could also lead to gentrification.
Newport, Kentucky is embracing green infrastructure as a solution to its sewage woes. They're planting trees, replacing concrete and planting rain gardens.
Daniel Rossi-Keen, the group's executive director, says the debate around the ethane cracker being built in his county is predictable. Instead of being for or against it, his group is ready to "do the hard work of developing healthy and creative community together."
The agency's preliminary analysis shows green infrastructure is more expensive to use to prevent sewage entering rivers than pipes and other gray infrastructure in most locations.
When a flood devastated the river town of Etna in 2004, the community set in motion a radical plan to cope with its stormwater problems using green infrastructure.
When highways and other old infrastructure are no longer needed, cities around the country are finding innovative new uses. Akron, Ohio is temporarily turning its underused Innerbelt into a "pop-up forest."
Pittsburgh is investing big in green infrastructure in 2017 as part of a major plan to overhaul its sewer and stormwater system. But how well these projects will work is still unknown.
