2008 Network Impacts: Changes in Land Use Plans > Changes in Land Use Regulations > On the Ground Changes > Decision Making Process Changes > Informed Decisions > Beyond Local Impacts
On the Ground Changes
| Alabama |
AL NEMO has partnered with Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the Alabama Clean Water Partnership, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, local governments, watershed groups, and other partners around the state to install demonstration low impact development practices. Educational workshops on the benefits on low impact development practices have led to projects in the cities of Gadsden (filter strip), Auburn (rain garden), Alexander City (rain garden), Fairhope (pervious concrete sidewalks), Jasper, and Lee County. |
| AL NEMO, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, ADEM, US EPA Region 4, North Carolina State University, and USDA CSREES Southern Regional Water Program worked with the City of Auburn and other partners to conduct a series of workshops on stream restoration that corresponded to the planning, design, and construction of a restored stream. 5 workshops were completed in 2007 – 2008 that trained over 200 professionals from across the Southeast. Additionally, 1,000 feet of stream were restored in a City of Auburn park that will be used as a demonstration and education site for years to follow. |
| Arizona |
| NEMO-supported grant applications to both the Arizona DEQ 319 Fund and the Arizona Water Protection Fund have resulted in the construction of erosion control structures on the San Francisco River in Greenlee County, erosion control structures in Cochise County along the San Pedro River, and buffer strip installation and lake dredging in Navajo County. |
| Connecticut |
| After a series of NEMO workshops in the Town of Madison, a developer proposed and built a subdivision that uses low impact development practices. |
| Oregon |
| OR NEMO has helped several communities design and implement LID projects. These projects include the incorporation of bioswales and rain gardens in the City of Brookings new Port office/retail building; constructed wetlands at Baby Bear Creek in Medford; underground stormwater detention chambers at the Southern Oregon University dormitory; bioswales in the City of Tillamook and Pacific City; and several water quality-friendly features in Redwood Park at the City of Grants Pass. |
| Delaware |
| The University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies, with support from DE NEMO, Broadkill Tributary Action Team and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation will provide bioretention swales on existing parking lots to serve as demonstration site for LID retrofitting of old parking lots. |
| Georgia |
| As a demonstration of better site design principles, Towns County Public Works Department has recently installed a porous paving system and vertical infiltration drain at the County's swim beach and playground on Lake Chatuge, through a cooperative partnership with TN Growth Readiness/Tennessee Valley Authority, which provided the materials and technical support for the project. |
| Kansas |
| NEMO presentations to Topeka, KS city planning staff and stormwater management staff helped shape the way redevelopment was done along a major city street. Redevelopment consisted of directing stormwater runoff into native vegetation dominated bioretention areas in several locations along the street. |
| New York |
| The Villages of Northport, Freeport, and Babylon, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and the Town of Huntington have all initiated storm drain retrofit pilot projects. As a pilot project, the Town of Huntington installed filtration devices in storm drain collection devices at 10 locations within the Bay Complex watershed to filter out bacteria prior to discharge to marine receiving waters. Nassau County installed sedimentation basins, in-line treatment devices, wetland plantings, catch basin inserts, and floatable removal structures. The Village of Northport installed catch basin inlets /leaching pools at ten locations within the Village. |
| Rhode Island |
| The towns of Charlestown, South Kingstown and New Shoreham (located on Block Island) participated in an EPA-funded community wastewater demonstration project that helped each town to establish a municipal wastewater management program to protect groundwater resources and coastal waters. With the project coming to a close, each municipality has allocated funds to maintain the program, with funding for a full time wastewater manager in each community. RI NEMO has provided education and technical support to the towns in setting up these programs. |
| Tennessee |
| TN Growth Readiness added a green roof as a demonstration project for an urban revitalization project in Nashville, TN. The green roof project was envisioned as a demonstration project that would support the ideals of the Growth Readiness Program, and help to address the urban storm water management issues in Nashville. The program published a case study on the Southeast Watershed Forum website to provide an overview. The permeable pavement project is in the bidding phase and is anticipated to be installed summer 2008. TGR is planning to provide a significant match to the project and for interpretive signage. |
| Texas |
TX NEMO led the Mason Park Stormwater Wetland project along Brays Bayou in Houston, TX. Constructed wetlands are known to be fairly effective at removing bacteria from stormwater, but the Brays Bayou stormwater wetland is the first documented proof of the effectiveness of this method in the Houston region. This wetland consistently removes nearly 99% of the bacteria in the stormwater inflow. The project won several national and state awards and serves as a demonstration of how wetlands can be incorporated into drainage infrastructure. |
| TX NEMO coordinated the installation of the first demonstration rain garden in the Houston area. Located in front of the Bay Area Courthouse Annex in Houston, the rain garden brings public awareness of this natural process for treating stormwater where it falls in a beautiful and functional way, while it provides habitat for wildlife with the inclusion of native plants. Partners in the project included Harris County, TX Extension Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists, and local city, non-profit, and supporting agencies. |
| Under the direction of TX NEMO, a WaterSmart Demonstration School Habitat Lab was installed at the Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH) on the campus of the University of Houston at Clear Lake as a means of creating a habitat for wildlife that also functions as an instructional lab for teachers, students and the community. The first of its kind in the Houston area, the landscape provides a safe, accessible area to experience hands-on environmental education for teachers and students. For the community, it highlights environmentally friendly landscaping practices that incorporate landscaping for wildlife and can be used in residential and commercial locations. |
| Vermont |
| VT NEMO worked with the towns of Winooski, Montpelier, Barre, Berlin and St Albans to install demonstration rain gardens that have had a ripple effect through these communities. The Winooski project has lead to a series of presentations for the Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturists and an advanced Master Gardeners training. Master gardeners in this region have since installed numerous rain gardens and have taken responsibility for their maintenance. The St Albans project included a porous concrete sidewalk, painted rain barrels project (60 barrels distributed throughout the city), and cistern systems at the Public Works Building and the fire Department building. |
| Nevada |
| The City of Reno installed four tree filter boxes as part of their downtown renovation project. The boxes intercept runoff that previously ran directly (and visibly) into the Truckee River. The City also received grant funding for a watershed protection program incorporating Low Impact Development (LID) to address high TDS concerns in Chalk Creek and is designing infiltration BMPs to capture, divert, and infiltrate stormwater runoff that currently enters the drinking water supply ditch. |
| A new Cabela’s retail development in Verdi was required to use low impact development techniques by the City of Reno. The development incorporated bioretention islands with curb cuts into their parking lots. |