American Rivers, the leading river protection advocacy group in the United States, produced this report in 2009 to highlight efforts made in eight communities across the country to utilize “green infrastructure” strategies to make themselves more resilient to water threats. The changing climate offers the likelihood of increased disruptions to the “normal” water cycle, so these strategies are more pertinent than ever.
Green infrastructure, according to this report, contains three major principles. People should protect healthy landscapes such as forests and small streams that are critical to ensuring high water quality downstream. Restoring degraded landscapes such as floodplains and wetlands is important to increase their storage capacity and hydrological function. Finally, urban water systems should replicate natural hydrological functions, through tools such as rain gardens rather than a reliance on “grey infrastructure” of pipes and drains. The report’s authors argue that green infrastructure can be less costly than more familiar engineered water management systems, as well as be arranged to solve multiple functions such as providing park land, as well as water handling.
The eight communities examined in this reportall use a variety of green infrastructure strategies to achieve one or more broad public goals. In Portland OR, and Staten Island, NY, for example, changes in stormwater management decreased sewer overflows, alleviating a substantial public health concern. Other efforts reduced potential for storm and flood damage, and worked to safeguard clean drinking water supplies against threads of drought.
The broader goal of all of these strategies is to increase community resilience to a changing climate. Although conditions will vary widely across the country, there seems little doubt that patterns of rainfall will be disrupted, with longer dry periods interrupted by heavier-than normal rainfall. The ability of communities to withstand these changes well--one definition of resilience--depends in part on the health of regional ecosystems and hydrological networks. As the authors put it:
In sum, community resilience is closely connected to the health and resilience of the ecosystems on which it relies. Where rivers, wetlands, and forests are able to withstand the impacts of a changing climate and continue to provide ecosystem services, communities will suffer fewer negative consequences, be better able to recover from disturbances, and will have the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions.
This report is a solid starting point for researchers beginning an exploration into the ways water and community intersect. The case studies are clear and specific, and the report as a whole brings together many specific terms that are well-known to water professionals but will be new to others. The end note section, honestly, is a bit outdated, but should provide a starting set of references for further learning.