Green Infrastructure Solutions for Stormwater Management

April 14, 2015

Best practices in stormwater management are demonstrated by the City of Indianapolis, where runoff volume is reduced through multiple solutions applied to both gray and green infrastructure. In Part 1 of this continuing series, author Margaret Buranen introduces the multiple challenges faced in an effort to reduce the volume of rainwater and snowmelt runoff to combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Our author continues to discuss multiple best practices in stormwater management in various site examples throughout this series. (This article was initially published in its entirety in the November/December 2014 issue of our print journal, Stormwater.)

Best practices in stormwater management are demonstrated by the City of Indianapolis, where runoff volume is reduced through multiple solutions applied to both gray and green infrastructure. In Part 1 of this continuing series, author Margaret Buranen introduces the multiple challenges faced in an effort to reduce the volume of rainwater and snowmelt runoff to combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Our author continues to discuss multiple best practices in stormwater management in various site examples throughout this series. (This article was initially published in its entirety in the November/December 2014 issue of our print journal, Stormwater.) [text_ad]

Taking Runoff Off the Table (Part 1) By Margaret Buranen

Under a consent decree for CSOs, Indianapolis looks for creative solutions. Remember the song with the line about little green apples and rain in Indianapolis in the summertime? Of course Indianapolis gets rain during the other three seasons, too, for an average annual rainfall of 42.4 inches. That’s a fair amount of stormwater to manage. Indianapolis also has runoff from melting snow and a combined sewer system (CSS) with its share of overflows to complicate things. Like Atlanta, Cleveland, Portland, and other cities, the city is using both gray and green infrastructure to facilitate stormwater management solutions. And like a number of other American cities, Indianapolis is working under a consent decree. The agreement between the city, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and the US EPA was signed in 2005. The 20-year plan requires that combined sewer overflows (CSOs) be reduced from 7 billion gallons per year to 414 million gallons per year by 2025. This modified plan, with gray and green infrastructure, will save $740 million and remove stormwater ahead of the original plan’s schedule. The 6-mile-long Deep Rock Tunnel Connector, a major piece of gray infrastructure, is part of the plan. Other major pieces of gray infrastructure include the Pleasant Run Tunnel, the Pogues Run Tunnel, and the Fall Creek/White River Tunnel. These tunnels will each hold 250 million gallons of runoff and will be located 250 feet below ground. On the green infrastructure side, green roofs are becoming popular in Indianapolis. They are found above the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Capitol Commons, the AUL Courtyard, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Moon Block Building, the HealthNet Clinic SW, the Children’s Museum, Indiana University’s Simon Cancer Center, and the Lilly Corporate Center and Visitors Center. The orangutans at the Indianapolis Zoo have a new green roof. Radio announcers at WFYI appreciate their building’s green roof because it muffles the sound of rain that their microphones used to pick up. It has deep enough growing medium to produce flowers and vegetables. Other Indianapolis green roofs include those above Union Station, Schmidt Associates, and the John H. Boner Center. The Nature Conservancy of Indiana’s headquarters has two green roofs. [text_ad] A LEED Platinum Conservation Center An outstanding example of green infrastructure is the headquarters of the Indiana state chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Landscape architecture design for the project was done by Kevin Osburn, RLA, ASLA, principal with Rundell Ernstberger Associates (REA). Axis Architects was the overall designer. The first LEED Platinum building in the city, The Nature Conservancy’s Efroymson Conservation Center uses 35% less energy and 80% less water than if it had been built conventionally. It has geothermal HVAC and three vertical wind turbines. Constructed using 8,000 square feet of bricks salvaged from the site’s previous building, Indiana’s beautiful native limestone, and sustainably harvested Indiana native hardwoods, the building is located on Ohio Street in downtown Indianapolis. The $8 million center opened in 2010. Its 1-acre lot contains more than 14,000 square feet of native plantings, more than 100 different types. Sections of plantings mirror those found at different nature preserves around the state of Indiana and have created a wonderful habitat for wildlife. “Dozens of goldfinch live in our gardens,” says Mary McConnell, executive director of The Nature Conservancy. “Bees started a hive in one tree. Hummingbirds fly around, and we see baby rabbits.” Please see Part 2 of this series for the continuation of this segment.  

Taking Runoff Off the Table (Part 1) By Margaret Buranen

Under a consent decree for CSOs, Indianapolis looks for creative solutions.

Remember the song with the line about little green apples and rain in Indianapolis in the summertime? Of course Indianapolis gets rain during the other three seasons, too, for an average annual rainfall of 42.4 inches. That’s a fair amount of stormwater to manage.

Indianapolis also has runoff from melting snow and a combined sewer system (CSS) with its share of overflows to complicate things. Like Atlanta, Cleveland, Portland, and other cities, the city is using both gray and green infrastructure to facilitate stormwater management solutions.

And like a number of other American cities, Indianapolis is working under a consent decree. The agreement between the city, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and the US EPA was signed in 2005. The 20-year plan requires that combined sewer overflows (CSOs) be reduced from 7 billion gallons per year to 414 million gallons per year by 2025. This modified plan, with gray and green infrastructure, will save $740 million and remove stormwater ahead of the original plan’s schedule.

The 6-mile-long Deep Rock Tunnel Connector, a major piece of gray infrastructure, is part of the plan. Other major pieces of gray infrastructure include the Pleasant Run Tunnel, the Pogues Run Tunnel, and the Fall Creek/White River Tunnel. These tunnels will each hold 250 million gallons of runoff and will be located 250 feet below ground.

On the green infrastructure side, green roofs are becoming popular in Indianapolis. They are found above the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Capitol Commons, the AUL Courtyard, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Moon Block Building, the HealthNet Clinic SW, the Children’s Museum, Indiana University’s Simon Cancer Center, and the Lilly Corporate Center and Visitors Center.

The orangutans at the Indianapolis Zoo have a new green roof. Radio announcers at WFYI appreciate their building’s green roof because it muffles the sound of rain that their microphones used to pick up. It has deep enough growing medium to produce flowers and vegetables.

Other Indianapolis green roofs include those above Union Station, Schmidt Associates, and the John H. Boner Center. The Nature Conservancy of Indiana’s headquarters has two green roofs.

Best practices in stormwater management are demonstrated by the City of Indianapolis, where runoff volume is reduced through multiple solutions applied to both gray and green infrastructure. In Part 1 of this continuing series, author Margaret Buranen introduces the multiple challenges faced in an effort to reduce the volume of rainwater and snowmelt runoff to combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Our author continues to discuss multiple best practices in stormwater management in various site examples throughout this series. (This article was initially published in its entirety in the November/December 2014 issue of our print journal, Stormwater.) [text_ad]

Taking Runoff Off the Table (Part 1) By Margaret Buranen

Under a consent decree for CSOs, Indianapolis looks for creative solutions. Remember the song with the line about little green apples and rain in Indianapolis in the summertime? Of course Indianapolis gets rain during the other three seasons, too, for an average annual rainfall of 42.4 inches. That’s a fair amount of stormwater to manage. Indianapolis also has runoff from melting snow and a combined sewer system (CSS) with its share of overflows to complicate things. Like Atlanta, Cleveland, Portland, and other cities, the city is using both gray and green infrastructure to facilitate stormwater management solutions. And like a number of other American cities, Indianapolis is working under a consent decree. The agreement between the city, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and the US EPA was signed in 2005. The 20-year plan requires that combined sewer overflows (CSOs) be reduced from 7 billion gallons per year to 414 million gallons per year by 2025. This modified plan, with gray and green infrastructure, will save $740 million and remove stormwater ahead of the original plan’s schedule. The 6-mile-long Deep Rock Tunnel Connector, a major piece of gray infrastructure, is part of the plan. Other major pieces of gray infrastructure include the Pleasant Run Tunnel, the Pogues Run Tunnel, and the Fall Creek/White River Tunnel. These tunnels will each hold 250 million gallons of runoff and will be located 250 feet below ground. On the green infrastructure side, green roofs are becoming popular in Indianapolis. They are found above the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Capitol Commons, the AUL Courtyard, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Moon Block Building, the HealthNet Clinic SW, the Children’s Museum, Indiana University’s Simon Cancer Center, and the Lilly Corporate Center and Visitors Center. The orangutans at the Indianapolis Zoo have a new green roof. Radio announcers at WFYI appreciate their building’s green roof because it muffles the sound of rain that their microphones used to pick up. It has deep enough growing medium to produce flowers and vegetables. Other Indianapolis green roofs include those above Union Station, Schmidt Associates, and the John H. Boner Center. The Nature Conservancy of Indiana’s headquarters has two green roofs. [text_ad] A LEED Platinum Conservation Center An outstanding example of green infrastructure is the headquarters of the Indiana state chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Landscape architecture design for the project was done by Kevin Osburn, RLA, ASLA, principal with Rundell Ernstberger Associates (REA). Axis Architects was the overall designer. The first LEED Platinum building in the city, The Nature Conservancy’s Efroymson Conservation Center uses 35% less energy and 80% less water than if it had been built conventionally. It has geothermal HVAC and three vertical wind turbines. Constructed using 8,000 square feet of bricks salvaged from the site’s previous building, Indiana’s beautiful native limestone, and sustainably harvested Indiana native hardwoods, the building is located on Ohio Street in downtown Indianapolis. The $8 million center opened in 2010. Its 1-acre lot contains more than 14,000 square feet of native plantings, more than 100 different types. Sections of plantings mirror those found at different nature preserves around the state of Indiana and have created a wonderful habitat for wildlife. “Dozens of goldfinch live in our gardens,” says Mary McConnell, executive director of The Nature Conservancy. “Bees started a hive in one tree. Hummingbirds fly around, and we see baby rabbits.” Please see Part 2 of this series for the continuation of this segment.  

A LEED Platinum Conservation Center
An outstanding example of green infrastructure is the headquarters of the Indiana state chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Landscape architecture design for the project was done by Kevin Osburn, RLA, ASLA, principal with Rundell Ernstberger Associates (REA). Axis Architects was the overall designer.

The first LEED Platinum building in the city, The Nature Conservancy’s Efroymson Conservation Center uses 35% less energy and 80% less water than if it had been built conventionally. It has geothermal HVAC and three vertical wind turbines.

Constructed using 8,000 square feet of bricks salvaged from the site’s previous building, Indiana’s beautiful native limestone, and sustainably harvested Indiana native hardwoods, the building is located on Ohio Street in downtown Indianapolis. The $8 million center opened in 2010.

Its 1-acre lot contains more than 14,000 square feet of native plantings, more than 100 different types. Sections of plantings mirror those found at different nature preserves around the state of Indiana and have created a wonderful habitat for wildlife.

“Dozens of goldfinch live in our gardens,” says Mary McConnell, executive director of The Nature Conservancy. “Bees started a hive in one tree. Hummingbirds fly around, and we see baby rabbits.”

Please see Part 2 of this series for the continuation of this segment.

About the Author

Margaret Buranen

Margaret Buranen writes on the environment and business.