Located on the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, San Jose is home to many of the most innovative, entrepreneurial companies in the United States. With the expansion of the technology industry, San Jose has grown to be the tenth largest city in the US. In 2007, San Jose adopted a 15-year sustainability plan called Green Vision. While green infrastructure is not explicitly listed as one of its ten main goals, tree canopy or green building space, for example, can be considered as contributors to stormwater control. Overall, San Jose receives just a few more inches of rain per year than Los Angeles. Low annual precipitation might be a reason why water quality and storm water runoff is not listed as one of Green Vision’s top 10 goals. Figure 15 illustrates Green Vision’s ten goals and the city’s progress since 2007.
Figure 15. Green Vision agenda items and progress data for San Jose, CA.70
Figure 15 lists Green Vision’s goals and the corresponding progress for each goal. San Jose’s strategy in measuring and assessing development allow managers to make business cases, track successes and failures, and manage more efficiently.
The EPA conducted a green infrastructure case study on several cities including San Jose and identified several interesting developments. San Jose approaches storm water from a project development and construction perspective. Contractors in San Jose must meet several stormwater criteria such as source and treatment control measures to receive a construction permit. The EPA identified that “developers are encouraged to minimize impervious surface to reduce the generation of stormwater runoff, and to treat any runoff generated with vegetative swales, biofilters or other landscape-based infiltration features”.71
treat runoff on site may be designated ‘water quality benefit projects,’ and are not required to contribute to regional or off-site treatment”72. Developers have become increasingly creative in designing their projects to have less than 10,000 square feet of impervious surfaces, which is the benchmark that the city set to be exempt from Urban Runoff Management laws. The success can be measured by the fact that “planning staff generally review over 300 plans per year, and around 90 percent of these projects are able to reduce their total imperviousness below the 10,000 square foot threshold”.
The 2012-2013 Stormwater Annual Report names a few green street pilot projects, one of which
“will replace three blocks of deteriorated asphalt and bare soil with ‘green’ concrete and a band of permeable pavers draining directly to underground infiltration trenches and wells.”73 A second pilot project “will install bioretention rain gardens along a one-half mile stretch.” To address water quality problems specifically, including discharge of toxic pollutants, the Environmental Services
Department highlights the benefits of vegetation in parks and gardens. Specifically, nitrogen and other pesticide toxins are targeted in the plan and the city “tested a landscape maintenance work plan for creating a model pesticide-free park.” While not directly related to stormwater volume control, reduction of pesticides and nitrogen in parks reduces contaminant loading in runoff, which is a component of stormwater management and exemplifies progressive thinking by the city.
Much of San Jose’s stormwater management tactic lies in reusing and recycling water. The system in charge of recycling water covers three cities (Milpitas, Santa Clara and San Jose) and consists of 130 miles of distribution pipelines and recycles roughly 10.6 million gallons a day.74 Green Vision includes a goal of increasing recycling water users (Figure 16) and delivering more recycled water to the customers (Figure 17).75
Figure 16. Number of water recycling customers (2007-2012) and target for 2022 in San Jose, CA.
Figure 17. Average daily recycled water use (2007-2012) and target for 2022 in San Jose, CA.
Figures 16 and 17 highlight the ambitious goals of city planners. Such metrics allow managers to track progress of long term goals. The city actively works with industry, commerce and residents to prevent waste water from going down stormwater drains. Separating waste water and stormwater allows for proper treatment and recycling of non-hazardous, reusable water.
In addition to LID requirements and incentives for developers and construction, rain water harvesting becomes an increasingly relevant tool for San Jose in reducing pollutant runoff. The Stormwater Handbook for San Jose includes application requirements for rainwater harvesting project proposals. Developers can choose rainwater harvesting as an LID tool in their strategy.76
Washington DC
The United States’ capitol, home to federal policy makers, recently moved from its moderate stance on sustainability and green infrastructure to an ambitious frontrunner in creating a greener city. In 2011 the mayor announced the Sustainable DC plan and officially signed the document into law in 2013. The plan focuses on the built environment, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste and water.
Washington DC discharges 2-3 billion gallons during CSO events into the Anacostia River per year.
To help contextualize this information, we compare three cities with relatively similar precipitation averages (Figures 18 and 19). Total volume of CSO is considered with respect to city area and population.
Figure 18. Combined sewer overflow per sq. mile in Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia.
Figure 19. CSO volume per capita in Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia.
-
Washington D.C. New York Philadelphia
Gallons of CSO per sq. mile, x1,000
0
Washington D.C. New York Philadelphia
Gallons of CSO per Capita
The Sustainable DC plan focuses explicitly on stormwater runoff and water quality issues, and quantifies specific goals (Table 4). The first two goals in the water category of the Sustainable DC plan are to make “100% of District waterways fishable and swimmable, and to use 75% of the landscape to capture rainwater for filtration or reuse”77 by 2032. These goals are more forward looking and ambitious than any other city with combined sewer systems assessed in this report.
The third goal in the document is to decrease total water use by 40%, decreasing demands for potable water and increasing rainwater reuse.
Table 4. Key water related goals in the Sustainable DC Plan for Washington DC.78
Goal 1 Improve the quality of waterways to standards suitable for fishing and swimming 1.1 Field test innovative technologies to improve river water quality.
1.2 Restrict the use of cosmetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
1.3 Restrict the use of harmful salts on roads in winter
1.4 Study the feasibility of implementing nutrient and water quality trading programs.
Goal 2 Relieve pressure on stormwater infrastructure and reduce long-‐term flood risk.
2.1 Install 2 million new square feet of green roofs. Medium DDOE Community
2.2 Increase the use of green infrastructure along public rights of way. Short DDOT DDOE, DC Water 2.3 Double the number of homes participating in the RiverSmart Homes program. Medium DDOE 2.4 Build 25 miles of green alleys. Long DDOT DDOE, PEPCO
2.5 Establish pervious surface minimums for targeted zoning districts.
Goal 3 Reduce demands for potable water and increase rainwater reuse
3.1 Update water-‐efficiency standards in District building codes. Short DCRA DDOE
3.2 Revise building codes to allow the use of alternative water systems. Short DCRA DGS, DDOE 3.3 Expand use of neighborhood-‐scale water collection networks. Long DDOE OP
3.4 Develop incentives for water-‐efficiency measures in landscaping and building design. Long DDOE 3.5 Expand the use of water monitoring technologies.
Table 4 summarizes the water related goals and initiatives Washington DC currently plans to implement. One trend is clear: very few goals have concrete quantitative measures or benchmarks.
In the table above only two measures offer traceable metrics: “Build 25 miles of green alleys” and
of Sustainable DC represent a strong framework for other cities hoping to improve water management with green infrastructure.
Conclusion
The major cities demonstrate varying levels of effort in promoting green infrastructure. Leading cities such as Philadelphia and New York City have proven that sustainable practices produce both environmental and economic benefits. More recently, Chicago and Washington D.C. have
introduced progressive green infrastructure plans. However, some of the largest cities across the US still rely almost exclusively on conventional grey infrastructure. As seen in the summary matrix in Table 1, cities such as Houston or San Antonio that receive high amounts of precipitation and have high potential for green infrastructure solutions are not using alternative green strategies.
All cities assessed in this report have potential for growth and improvement concerning sustainable solutions. No US city is 100% proficient in the field of green infrastructure. For example, the overlap of multiple departments and programs can cause political noise, bureaucratic challenges, and undermine or obstruct progress. Establishing a common goal with quantitative defined objectives is a key first step towards developing successful green infrastructure projects. Annual reports are critical to conveying progress to local residents, and provide data for other municipal leaders to learn from successful strategies and initiatives. To be sure, the learning curve of understanding and implementing green infrastructure is still high, with significant advances in methods and
management yet to come.
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