Stormwater May 2012 : Page 48
MMSD/Milwaukee Public Information Boating on the Menomonee River to habitat preservation, increased recre-ation, and so on. When you look at the full gambit of benefi ts, Greenseams is a very cost-effective approach.” Another argument in favor of pro-grams such as Greenseams is that it’s cheaper to buy land in low-lying, fl ood-prone areas before development oc-curs on it than to buy homes and other buildings after they have been con-structed and damaged by fl oods. “Green infrastructure—green roofs, bioswales, rain gardens, rain barrels— is part of the larger sustainability pro-gram that is being partly paid for and promoted by MMSD,” says Shafer. “Greenseams is a component of that large sustainability program.” Milwaukee’s green infrastructure in-cludes a number of green roofs, such as those atop the Miller Coors building, the education center at the Mequon Na-ture Preserve, MMSD’s headquarters, the downtown public library, the Great Lakes WATER Institute, and Highland Gardens, a public housing complex For related articles: www.stormh2o.com/program-funding with a 20,000-square-foot roof. both departments.” UW-M faculty members are cur-Rockwell Automation’s Building rently working on the Milwaukee Inner 48 has the largest green roof Harbor Project, which will propose eco-at 48,500 square feet. MMSD logical urban stormwater infrastructure authorized $3.8 million for 14 as part of a vision of the redevelopment green roof projects, known col-of the inner harbor, he notes. Students lectively as the 2010 Regional “will be building a sculptural system Green Roof Initiative. of cisterns to capture water from the Among the institutions that UW-M Power Plant roof and feed it share the goal of keeping all of into the spiral garden.” their stormwater onsite are the UW-M’s efforts to infi ltrate its Urban Ecology Center and the stormwater benefi t the nearby suburb University of Wisconsin-Mil-of Shorewood. The campus and the waukee (UW-M). Located in the urban center of the city, the Ur-tree-lined village, one of the oldest in ban Ecology Center has a strong Milwaukee, share the same sewershed. sustainability education program Shorewood is located between Lake for both homeowners and busi-Michigan and the Milwaukee River, nesses. The center focuses on and its proximity to downtown, com-capture and reuse through a sys-munity beach, and parks make it a tem of cisterns, rain barrels, rain highly desirable residential neighbor-gardens, a green roof, porous hood. As a result of these advantages, pavement, and a wet detention it has the highest population density of pond. Driveway runoff fl ows any Wisconsin town, 13,400 residents to rain gardens. Collected rainwater in about 1 square mile. is used for toilets and irrigation. The univer-sity’s Zero Discharge Plan is a work in prog-ress and much prog-ress has been made as campus infrastructure is upgraded. MMSD worked with James Wasley, associate pro-fessor of architecture, to develop the plan, which became part of the university’s offi cial campus master plan. Campus compo-nents include green roofs on Sandburg Milwaukee area schoolteachers learn about stormwater. Hall and the Golda Almost half of Shorewood is con-Meir Library and a spiral garden with bioswales planted with native fl owers, nected to a combined sewer (CS) sys-grasses, and sedges. Wasley’s students tem. Flooded basements have long are actively involved in the various plagued its residents, but the village projects, receiving hands-on learning couldn’t afford to build new sewers. that benefi ts them, their school, and the In response to residents’ complaints, MMSD and Shorewood’s Department community at large. Wasley says of this stormwater of Public Works launched a program, learning, “I would guess that we are partially funded by MMSD, to keep pretty unique in focusing on stormwa-stormwater out of the system. Some ter within a department of architecture. sewer lines were upgraded, but the Some schools combine architecture and main strategy to combat fl ooding was landscape architecture—they would be what the property owners would do more likely to integrate the issue across themselves. MMSD/Milwaukee Public Information 48 May 2012 www.stormh2o.com
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