A new resource produced by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) aims to help communities manage stormwater through green infrastructure techniques that employ natural solutions to mitigate flooding and improve water quality.

The MWRD’s “Green Infrastructure Community Guide: Stormwater Strategies for Resilient Neighborhoods” is now available at mwrd.org. The Guide equips municipal leaders, planners, public works directors, engineers, staff and other decision makers with valuable information, resources and guidance for incorporating green infrastructure into their communities to better manage stormwater. It is the second in a series of publications the MWRD has produced following the “Green Neighbor Guide,” which is directed at residents looking to implement green infrastructure in their yards. This more technical and detailed guide provides municipal staff with a more focused approach to planning and adapting public spaces to take on additional stormwater runoff and build resilient and sustainable communities.

“We are proud to release the new Green Infrastructure Community Guide to prepare community partners with the resources and knowledge needed to address stormwater management and the increasingly intense and unpredictable storms we now experience,” said MWRD President Kari K. Steele. “We encourage our municipal partners and green infrastructure champions to check out this new publication.”

As storms have increased in frequency and intensity over impervious landscapes, even valuable gray infrastructure, like concrete pipes and large detention basins, cannot always keep up with the runoff. This can lead to flooded basements and surface flooding. To manage this copious stormwater, it will take a variety of solutions, partnerships, innovations and combinations of green and gray infrastructure to address increased rainfall.

Green infrastructure installations are designed to use natural landscaping to manage water and provide environmental and community benefits. These practices also help reduce the load on local sewer systems, leading to more capacity to manage excess water and improve area water quality.

The Green Infrastructure Community Guide evaluates a wide range of practices, including vegetated filter strips, bioretention facilities, bioswales, constructed wetlands, urban stormwater trees, dry wells, infiltration trenches, permeable pavement and cisterns. The guide offers tips and instructions and assesses both the benefits and challenges of implementing these practices. The guide also outlines how to meet the MWRD’s regulatory requirements for specific design and performance standards, as detailed in the MWRD’s Technical Guidance Manual (TGM) found at mwrd.org/wmo-tgm.

“Our Green Infrastructure Community Guide provides the details on how to best plan for rainy days and mitigate flooding,” said MWRD Vice President Patricia Theresa Flynn. “The step-by-step instructions and assessment of green infrastructure practices give communities the information needed to weigh their options.”

For more information, visit mwrd.org/stormwater/green-infrastructure.