May 8th, 2023
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Register Today
Pennsylvania Sea Grant is hosting a webinar focused on green infrastructure techniques for municipalities in the Pennsylvania Great Lakes region on May 8, 2023 at 1:30 PM Eastern. The presentations will highlight green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) techniques to manage stormwater quantity and quality.
Green infrastructure is a stormwater management approach that protects, restores, or enhances the natural water cycle. Historically, stormwater has been managed using a network of gutters, pipes, basins, and tunnels to transport stormwater from the built environment to local waterbodies or treatment facilities. Green infrastructure filters and absorbs precipitation where it falls, addressing water quality and quantity concerns, increasing resiliency, and reducing the strain on existing stormwater infrastructure.
The May 8th, 2023 webinar will feature:
- Get to Know Green Infrastructure – Tom Cermak – Coastal Outreach Specialist, Pennsylvania Sea Grant – Stormwater runoff occurs when rain or snowmelt flows over impervious surfaces such as roads, driveways, parking lots, and other developed structures. As stormwater flows across the built environment, it collects pollutants such as nutrients, sediment, pathogens, and heavy metals before discharging into local waterways. The implementation of green infrastructure reduces stormwater volume and address stormwater quality at the source. Green infrastructure can be woven into a community at several scales, providing environmental, social, and economic benefits. Mr. Cermak’s presentation will cover these topics, a broad range of stormwater related issues, and solution-oriented GSI techniques.
- Tackling Barriers to Green Infrastructure One Code at a Time – Julia Noordyk – Water Quality & Coastal Communities Specialist, Wisconsin Sea Grant – Outdated local regulations can have a broad impact on green infrastructure and often will directly or indirectly discourage or prohibit its use. Based on the work of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Sea Grant, developed Tackling Barriers to Green Infrastructure: An Audit of Local Codes and Ordinances, a workbook to help communities audit, revise and prioritize codes that deter the implementation of green infrastructure.
- Incremental Change Towards Greener Infrastructure – Matthew Waldinger – Director of Planning and Development, Millcreek Township – In 2015, Millcreek Township was approached by the Township’s Planning Commission, which sought to provide recommendations to the Board of Supervisors to improve the aesthetics and sustainability of newly constructed parking lots. Through examination of Township ordinances and review of successful regulations elsewhere in the Commonwealth, the team recommended improvements that could be added to the Township’s current Zoning Ordinance and have an immediate impact on new developments. These changes were adopted by the Board of Supervisors in March 2016 and have been carried over into the Township’s new Zoning Ordinance, adopted in 2022.
Presentations will be followed by a Q&A session. The webinar will be recorded and shared via Pennsylvania Sea Grant’s YouTube page.
Contact Tom Cermak for details or questions at tjc29@psu.edu.
