Rain falls. The water picks up pollutants and items along the pavement, and swiftly brings them to a nearby river.
It happens often at sprawling developments — with large roofs and pavement lots that don’t allow much water to permeate into the ground. The effect is water pollution in rivers and Long Island Sound.
It doesn’t have to be that way, say officials at the Housatonic Valley Association.
The local environmental group hopes to educate area developers and land-use officials about techniques to develop land in a more river-friendly way.
HVA recently received a $35,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to help HVA expand its “Low Impact Development“ education program to Oxford, Seymour and Ansonia.
HVA started the education program in 2007, by reaching out to developers and land use officials in Shelton, Derby, Stratford, Milford and Orange, according to Elaine LaBella, the group’s land protection director.
The Low Impact Development education aims to chip away at causes of water pollution, LaBella said. HVA officials spread the word by meeting with land-use officials and developers — and by hosting workshops on the development techniques.
“Think about some of the big plazas that have been built,” LaBella said. “Water runs onto the roofs, and paved surfaces, where it gets immediately shunted off into the nearest water body.”
“It’s important, rather than taking that storm water and shunting it away, to design or retrofit house lots or commercial development and take that rainwater and use it as a resource instead.”
Click play on the video above to see a United States Environmental Protection Agency video about Low Impact Development.
LID
Low-Impact Development means developing properties in a way that reflects how water would flow in nature, LaBella said.
Click here for the EPA website on low-impact development.
Instead of funneling water to a storm basin, and then dumping it into a river, low-impact developments try to let the water naturally permeate the ground in order to naturally filter to waterways.
A good example was the storm water management set up at BJ’s in Derby, LaBella said.
Because of the high retaining wall for the Naugatuck River, and another natural hill, BJ’s sits in a bowl.
So developers installed permeable piping under the parking lot, where water can drain and then filter out into the ground.
“That’s considered an LID technique,” LaBella said.
HVA can also have an impact by helping towns review their storm water management plans to reflect updated industry standards, LaBella said.
HVA Executive Director Lynn Werner said the group is grateful for the grant, as it will help them educate the key players.
“It’s really simple common sense you can do when you’re developing,” Werner said. “It’s about being smarter. And sometimes it costs less money. It’s developing with Mother Nature, instead of against her.”
