The Benefit of Cleaner Waterways

Penn State landscape architecture faculty train a new generation of students to tackle stormwater issues with green infrastructure

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority plans to spend more than $2 billion to build miles of new underground tunnels, and to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant. Some clean river advocates are pushing for alternatives, like green infrastructure. We begin our series Ripple Effects: Water Pollution & New Solutions with a look at the debate over sewage in the waterways.

Pennsylvania's climate change forecast is wet. More frequent and increasingly intense storms than in the past are expected. One community which has already faced devastating floods is finding that a particular kind of green infrastructure called a bioswale could be part of the solution.

The town of Durham is trying a new approach to reduce pollution flowing into the Great Bay estuary. In the past, the EPA has demanded that waste-water reach certain thresholds of cleanliness, and at the same time asked communities to come up with a qualitative plan to clean water that runs off of parking lots and roofs. Durham has proposed combining the two approaches, asking to "trade" removing more pollution from stormwater for removing less from wastewater. In this way, the town hopes to focus on low-hanging fruit, save its town's budget, and not have to buy and pump explosive chemicals as part of an expensive wastewater treatment upgrade.

Across Utah, utility crews are an in an uphill battle to maintain and modernize water delivery systems. From the desert community of St. George, to verdant Cache Valley, Utah’s water infrastructure is a complex network of old and new piping with old and new billing systems used to pay for it.